Chinese envoy holds talks with KP Oli amid increasing rifts in Nepal ruling party

Nov 18, 2020

Kathmandu [Nepal], November 18 : With an increased rift inside Nepal Communist Party, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on late Tuesday evening and held talks for about two hours.
Sources inside the PM residence and Secretariat confirmed that Ambassador Yanqi met Oli late on Tuesday evening and held a discussion for about two hours.
"Chinese Ambassador was here last late evening and held discussion with Prime Minister Oli for nearly two hours," an official from PM Secretariat confirmed ANI on the condition of anonymity.
Another source inside Baluwatar confirmed that Yanqi and Oli held a discussion about the unification process of the ruling party and solving ongoing issues inside the party.
"They held a discussion about the party matters to keep the party intact and government in form. Ambassador Yanqi stressed to continue negotiation to settle down the disputes and reach consensus," another source inside Baluwatar known with the talks about meeting confirmed ANI.
Dissatisfaction inside the ruling Nepal Communist Party has increased once again with two chairs divided over conveying the Secretariat meeting of the party which is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Oli has sent a proposal to co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal to postpone the meeting while Dahal has remained firm in holding on to the meeting later in the afternoon.
Out of the Nine-membered Secretariat of the ruling NCP, five members namely Dahal, Madhav Nepal, Jhal Nath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam, and Narayan Kaji Shrestha are pressing on for the meeting.
Meanwhile, Bishnu Poudel, Ishwar Pokhrel, and Ram Bahadur Thapa along with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli are loggerheaded to postpone the meeting. In order to avert the meeting scheduled for 1 pm (Local Time), Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has summoned a cabinet meeting to skip the secretariat meeting.
"I have been informed to reach PM residence before 1 pm this afternoon to attend the cabinet meeting. As the meeting was not able to convene on Monday due to Tihar it has been summoned for today," a minister in Oli led cabinet informed requesting not to be named on the first place.
Oli had made attempts to cancel Wednesday's Secretariat Meeting for which he had sent Bishnu Poudel to convince Dahal and withdraw his political document.
In the previous round of Secretariat meeting, Dahal had presented a document where he termed Oli's activities as "inexcusable" and again demanded his resignation from both the posts terming him inappropriate for the post.
Alleging Oli has filed over his promises and agreement earlier signed and brokered Dahal further has pointed Oli of failing to deal with the pandemic leaving everyone in despair and agony.
The 19-page document floated by Dahal has directed Oli to make the sacrifice for the constitution, party, and nation for being unable to keep his words by disobeying party decisions, election manifesto, and ignoring good governance.
With Oli making efforts to postpone the Secretariat meeting, Dahal on Tuesday had met President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to settle down the issue.