KATHMANDU: The Standing Committee meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) concluded today entrusting party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to convene another meeting by consulting Prime Minister KP Oli.

As many as 29 SC members, including party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, General Secretary Bishnu Poudel, and NCP Vice President Bam Dev Gautam attending today’s meeting at Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar.

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, however, did not attend the meeting despite being asked to attend.

Several SC members said PM Oli’s absence in today’s meeting and his unilateral decision to postpone it was unfortunate. This, they said, would affect the party unity.

Prior to this, NCP Chairman Dahal and senior leader Khanal had met with Prime Minister Oli and had discussed the fate of the SC meeting.

Apprising the SC members about the meeting with PM Oli, Dahal had urged them to refrain from making unnecessary and provocative remarks “or else the party would split.”

During the meeting, Vice Chairman Gautam said he would make his position clear soon hinting at the possibility of taking the side of PM Oli, party sources said. He also briefed his six-point proposal at the meeting in what he said has been floated to narrow down differences seen especially between Dahal-Nepal and Oli camps.

The party was earlier caught in a quagmire whether or not to go ahead with today’s scheduled SC meeting owing to the respective stance of Prime Minister Oli and Chairman Dahal.

Earlier, reports were that the SC meeting was postponed indefinitely after PM Oli did not budge an inch from his stance of not holding the scheduled meeting.

The SC has been deadlocked for a long time after PM Oli and Dahal could not resolve their differences on some thorny issues in the party.

The intra-party feud has deepened further after Dahal-Nepal camp started demanding Oli’s resignation.

On the other hand, Oli is adamant to not resign from both of his posts.

He seems to have a graceful exit by handing over the post through the upcoming general convention of the party.

With both the leaders remaining adamant not to budge an inch from their respective stances, several one-on-one meetings between the two heavyweights in the past ended inconclusively.

The SC meeting which started since June 24 has been postponed time and again after Oli’s resignation entered as an agenda in the meeting.

The dispute is primarily centered on whether Oli should resign from the post of chairman immediately or through the upcoming general convention in line with the statute of the party.

Senior leaders Khanal, Nepal, and Spokesperson Shrestha had urged Chairman Dahal not to postpone today’s meeting, suggesting the latter to sort out the issue through the meeting itself.