KATHMANDU: President Bidya Bhandari has been active in narrowing down the differences of the ruling CPN-UML that has been mired into the intra-party conflict.

It has been learned that President Bhandari has swung into action in patching up the intra-party differences following a telephone conversation with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping last week.

Following a 45-minute talk with Chinese President Xi,  Bhandari had called  Prime Minister  Oli to Shital Niwas. Bhandari has been calling on the second rung leaders to render efforts to keep the party united.

Both the factions of the ruling CPN-UML have called separate meetings today.

The establishment has called a standing committee (SC) meeting while the Nepal-Khanal faction is holding its central committee meeting (CC) today.

The SC meeting called for 4 pm yesterday had been postponed for today. The meeting will take place at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar at 4 pm.

The SC meeting held on Tuesday had decided to maintain maximum flexibility to keep the party united.

Similarly, the Nepal-Khanal group is holding its CC meeting with the CC members of his faction at 11 am.

The disgruntled faction has called the CC meeting at a time when the second rung leaders of the ruling UML are engaged in discussions to take the party back to the status of May 16, 2018.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has agreed to take the party to the previous status on the condition that the Nepal-Khanal faction should withdraw support to Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba to become the Prime Minister of Nepal in line with Article 76 (5) of the Constitution.

Similaly, the disgruntled faction has floated a proposal that Prime Minister Oli should withdraw the decision to dissolve the House of Representatives (HoR).

Second and third rung leaders of UML have intensified meetings in order to keep the party united at a time when it has been headed towards the brink of split.