KATHMANDU – The ruling Nepal Communist Party is preparing to call its secretariat meeting, as dialogue between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has halted.
Although party co-chair and Prime Minister Oli mobilized leaders to become closer with co-chair Prachanda, the latter has made it clear that he will not hold one-and-one talks with the Prime Minister. NCP Executive Chairman Prachanda has held consultations with other leaders to call on the secretariat meeting and discuss recent problems in the party.
“The preparation is to organize the secretariat meeting by next week. The date of the secretariat meeting will be fixed in a couple of days,” a leader close to Prachanda stated.
Other secretariat members including Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bamdev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha are also demanding a secretariat meeting as soon as possible.
Prachanda is dissatisfied with Prime Minister Oli for his reluctance to implement the report of a task force formed under party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel to resolve intraparty disputes, as well as early September’s standing committee meeting’s decision. The two chairmen’s relations have further soured after the intra party dispute in Karnali province. Prachanda is reportedly disappointed with Prime Minister Oli after his advisor issued a ‘wrong statement’ conflicting with the agreement between two chairmen to end the disputes in Karnali province.
Although the standing committee meeting held on September 1 had decided to run the party and the government based on an agreement between two chairmen, procedure, party statute and system, the Prime Minister decision to appoint ambassadors to various countries and cabinet ministers without consulting party co-chair reignited conflict within the party.
The recent visit of the Indian RAW Chief and meeting with the Prime Minister, the Birgunj incident where a district leader of the party was killed and Oli’s letter to Karnali’s Chief Minister instructing him to withdraw action against chief whip have all worsened relations between the party co-chairs.
Prime Minister Oli has mobilized his confidantes including Poudel, Subash Nembwang and Shankar Pokharel to resume the dialogue that has been halted for the last few days. They have been meeting Prachanda and have urged him to resume dialogue citing that there is no alternative to consensus between two chairmen to end the intraparty disputes.
However, in response to their requests, Prachanda has been reiterating his stance of implementation of the previous decisions and discussion in party committees rather than one-on-one meetings.
Alleging that Prime Minister Oli has repeatedly breached previous agreements, Prachanda has
told them that the implementation of those previous agreements is a precondition to resume dialogue.
Although Prime Minister Oli had tried to forge an alliance with Senior Leader Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction after his relation with Prachanda soured, Nepal had reportedly turned down the request, citing that he cannot partner with Oli on running the government and party in the current scenario.
Prime Minister Oli then began approaching Prachanda. Bamdev Gautam, who has been supporting Oli during the internal crisis, has reportedly been unhappy with him in recent months.
