Nepal Communist Party summons Standing Committee meeting on May 7
May 03, 2020
Kathmandu [Nepal], May 3 : The Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has decided to summon the meeting of the Standing Committee of the party at 11 a.m. (local time) on May 7.
The decision was taken during a meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar on Saturday evening.
On May 6, the party will hold a meeting of the party secretariat to prepare the agenda for the Standing Committee meeting.
According to media reports, 20 Standing Committee members close to party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal had earlier registered a petition demanding immediate meeting of the Standing Committee.
The meeting took place at a time when there is a growing mistrust among the top leaders of the ruling party owing to the performance of the Oli-led government and the growing control of chairperson Oli on the party's functioning and roles. The two rival factions led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal are seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Oli both from the party and the helm of the government. The factions led by Dahal and Nepal have demanded the resignation of Oli, alleging that his government had failed to perform well.
In Saturday's meeting, the prime minister and Dahal took to self-criticism over the shortcomings made by the government as well as the party and pledged to not indulge in any activity that could bring division in the party, the media further said.
"For now it looks like the power-sharing deal has ended up in a soft note but the meeting after four days will decide on the fate," one of the members of the Central Committee present in the meeting confirmed to ANI on conditions of anonymity.
As per the source, the meeting on May 7 may witness talks on power sharing between Oli and Dahal, Cabinet reshuffling, and transfer of provincial ministers.
Earlier on April 30, during the party's secretariat meeting, the prime minister had offered to make the party's senior leader Bam Dev Gautam the new prime minister and Madhav Kumar Nepal the third chairman of the party in order to settle the intra-party power tussle.
Oli had also vowed that he would resign from the post as soon as the coronavirus pandemic is over.
In a bid to settle the disputes in the party, Oli also floated the idea of making senior leader Nepal the third chairman of the party after him and executive chairman Dahal.
Oli is in minority in the secretariat, Standing Committee and the Parliamentary Party Committee of the NCP after Nepal and Gautam decided to join the Dahal faction, arguing that Oli had acted 'unilaterally' both in the party and the government.
The Dahal-Nepal faction had earlier sought to convene the party's standing committee meeting as well. But PM Oli has so far brushed aside the need to call for the Standing Committee meeting arguing that he had already withdrawn the controversial ordinances and offered to mend the ways of the government, media reports said.
