KATHMANDU: With a faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) deciding to hold a “crucial” meeting of all committees, the intra-party row within the party has escalated of late.

The faction led by Upendra Yadav and Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai has decided to convene a meeting of all the party committees and come up with a unified position at the earliest.

However, the other faction led by Mahantha Thakur and Rajendra Mahato is ignorant about the meeting.

A JSP leader said that the party cannot move ahead with two different ideas. “It is high time that the party moved ahead with a single opinion. Therefore, we have decided to convene a meeting of the executive committee at the earliest to thrash out all differences,” he said.

Party leader Mohammad Istihaq Raie believes that the party cannot tolerate any decisions that are aimed at supporting regressive moves.

Even though the party’s central committee has 801 members, the names of only 776 people are registered with the Election Commission.

Therefore, the party has decided to convene the meeting remotely.

The Thakur-Mahato faction, on the other hand, claimed that they have no idea about the meeting.

“We have absolutely no idea as to why the meeting has been called,” the leader said emphasizing the need of resolving all differences within the party.

“However, all sides should maintain flexibility,” he added.

Meanwhile, a ‘war of statements’ has been waged between the two factions of the party, of late.

As the dispute began within the party due to differences over the formation of the government, the two factions have been betting on issuing public statements.

The Yadav faction is not satisfied with the way the party elected Rajendra Mahato as the leader of the parliamentary party.