KATHMANDU: The one-on-one meeting held between CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal at Marriot Hotel on Wednesday evening was possible due to initiative of a handful of second-rung UML leaders.

UML leader Yogesh Bhattarai was extremely busy on Tuesday. He desperately wanted factional heads of the party to hold dialogue and end the widening fissures seen for the past some time.

To achieve this end, Bhattarai, representing Nepal faction, and Gandaki Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung held intense talks with PM Oli in Baluwatar on Tuesday evening. Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel had joined them later.

At Tuesday’s meeting, PM Oli while conversing with CM Gurung and Bhattarai was of the view that the two factions needed to go to polls separately and not as one united UML. The PM expressing his concerns of being cornered in the party.

After hearing the PM’s side of grievances, Bhattarai requested the PM to hold a final talk with disgruntled faction leaders, to which PM Oli surprisingly agreed.

Elated with the development, Bhattarai then went to Koteshwor and conveyed the message that PM would talk to Nepal. He also persistently encouraged Nepal to agree to the meet for the sake of UML unity.

Thus, Wednesday’s meeting between Oli and Nepal materialized.

According to Khabarhub sources, PM’s special Financial Advisor Motilal Dugad facilitated the meeting Wednesday as he had booked Room No 901 at the Marriot hotel for the two leaders to sit and sort out their differences.

It has also been learned that after the meeting today, Leader Nepal has called a meeting of lawmakers close to him at Sahana Pradhan Memorial for tomorrow (Thursday) to brief them about the content of the one-on-one meeting with UML Chair Oli.

UML Chairman Oli and senior leader Nepal held a two-hour-long discussion at the Marriot Hotel in Nagpokhari Wednesday evening.

The two leaders exited the hotel at around 7 pm on Wednesday evening. Senior leader Nepal, however, refused to divulge the content of the discussion to the media.

The two leaders exited the hotel in a gay mood and PM’s special financial advisor Moti Dugad told media that he perceived the meeting was overall positive.

During the meeting, the two leaders reportedly held serious deliberations on ways to manage the internal strife in the party.

This was the first time that they sat for a dialogue after the dissolution of the House of Representatives last December.

According to sources, Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel accompanied PM Oli to the meeting.

The meeting between the two is very meaningful at a time when the rift in the party has reached a new height.