NCP leaders, sans PM Oli, adamant to nominate Gautam as NA member

KATHMANDU: A meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) tops leaders sans Prime Minister K P Oli has decided to implement the Secretariat’s decision to nominate NCP Vice-Chairman Bam Dev Gautam to the National Assembly.

The meeting held at party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s residence at Khumaltar this morning remained adamant to the Secretariat’s decision to make Gautam a National Assembly member.

In the meeting, Dahal, Gautam, party senior leader Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Narayan Kaji Shrestha were unanimous to not seek any alternative to Gautam’s candidacy, party sources said.

It should be noted that PM Oli is in favor of giving continuity to Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada while the group of five, including party Chairman Dahal, is in favor of nominating Gautam.

Prime Minister Oli, who is also an NCP Chairman, is against the idea of nominating Gautam to the National Assembly.

Today’s meeting has, however, decided to wait until Monday as a ‘wait and see’ strategy. This means that they ate waiting for PM Oli’s reaction.