Nepal’s communist party’s key meeting ends with no breakthrough to end Oli-Prachanda infighting

PTI, Jul 18, 2020, 9:36 PM IST

Kathmandu: Nepal’s ruling communist party”s top decision-making body on Saturday failed to achieve a breakthrough to end the tussle for power between Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and former premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal ”Prachanda” despite four hours of marathon discussions.

No conclusion was reached during the meeting of the Nepal Communist Party’s (NCP) nine-member Central Secretariat though the party leaders discussed the agenda to be presented during Sunday”s crucial Standing Committee meeting, according to senior party leader Ganesh Shah.

During their discussions, senior leaders agreed to resolve the issues through consensus, party spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha told media persons after the 9-member Central Secretariat meeting.

The NCP called a secretariat meeting after the two top leaders agreed to call a conclave of the highest body of the party ahead of the 45-member Standing Committee meeting on Sunday in a bid to strike a new power-sharing deal by sorting out their differences.

The Standing Committee meeting of the party is scheduled to take place at 3 pm on Sunday.

The Standing Committee meeting was postponed until Sunday to give more time to Oli and the rival faction led by Prachanda, the executive chairman of the NCP to have more talks to end the intra-party infighting.

During previous meetings, Oli has refused to resign or give up his position as chairman of the NCP as demanded by the faction led by Prachanda.

Sunday’s Standing Committee meeting is expected to fix the date for the CWC meeting, which will ultimately decide the future of Prime Minister Oli, Shah, a Standing Committee member, said earlier.

Oli and Prachanda have held at least eight meetings in recent weeks to sort out their differences. But, as the Prime Minister did not accept the condition of a one-man-one-post, the talks failed, party sources said.

Top NCP leaders, including ”Prachanda”, have been demanding Prime Minister Oli”s resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate.” They are also against Oli”s autocratic style of functioning.

The differences grew further after Oli alleged that some of the ruling party leaders are aligning with the southern neighbour to remove him from power after his government issued a new political map incorporating three Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.

The differences between the two factions of the NCP, one led by Oli and the other led by Prachanda on the issue of power-sharing, intensified after the prime minister unilaterally decided to prorogue the budget session of Parliament.

Prachanda was made the executive chairman of the NCP in November last year under a deal between him and Oli. But the former prime minister was rarely given a chance to lead the party on his own, which some leaders say is one of the reasons he decided to form his own faction against Oli.

The Kathmandu Post recently reported that Prachanda might not agree for something less than the prime minister”s post, but since Oli has taken some drastic steps, including the House prorogation, he could step back for some time, fearing he would be blamed in the event of a split in the party.

The Prachanda faction until a few weeks ago was so confident that it looked like they would manage to force Oli to capitulate. But two days after proroguing the House on July 3, Oli told his Cabinet that the rival faction was plotting to oust him and impeach President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, putting Prachanda and his faction on the back foot, the newspaper noted.