By Our Reporter
The dispute in the ruling Nepal Communist Party has deepened further after the two factions—one led by Prime Minister and party chair KP Sharma Oli and another by chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal raced to postpone and continue the standing committee meeting on Tuesday.
Minutes after the party secretariat issued a notice that the standing committee meeting slated for Tuesday was postponed for an infinite period, Dahal and others reached Baluwatar and held the meeting.
However, PM and leaders loyal to him did not attend the meeting held in the PM’s residence. According to The Rising Nepal, the government mouthpiece, PM Oli put off the meeting when he knew that Dahal and other leaders were hatching a conspiracy against the government in Dahal’s Khumaltar residence.
However, in a dramatic development of the event, leader Gautam threw his strength to support PM Oli by issuing a six-point statement on Tuesday, according to which the NCP should allow Oli complete his five years’ term in office and the early convention of the party be held in mid-December as proposed by PM Oli.
PM Oli and Gautam also had a meeting at Gautama’s residence in Bhainsepati late in the evening on Tuesday. With Gautam tilting towards Oli, the equation is likely to change soon, making Oli again strong in the party. It is noteworthy to mention that the seed of present dispute in the NCP was also sown by Gautam.
When Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal asked Oli to step down from both the posts of PM and party chair, Oli not only outright rejected the offer but also challenged them to through him party leadership through an early party convention. He even made the fate of the ongoing Standing Committee meeting uncertain by either not attending it or compelling the rival group to postpone it for days. Now he has gained important support from Gautam.
Although the two-party chairs held one one-on-one meeting after another, they have failed to hammer out the differences. Moreover, they have stopped holding such a meeting. When the deadlock continued, the people, as well as the voters of the NCP seem to have tilted towards PM Oli asking whether it was the right time to ask the PM to step down when the country has been in the fight against the coronavirus and floods and landslides wreaked havoc across the country.
Of course, it was the greed of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Bam Dev Gautam to power and envy of Madhav Nepal that had invited the dispute in the party. Again, foreign forces, mostly from the southern neighbour, have instigated the rival leaders to ask for the PM’s resignation as India wants an early exit of Oli from the leadership for issuing the updated map of Nepal, and Dahal has since long been working at the interest of India.
But now, the situation has been that neither Dahal-Nepal could oust Oli from the party nor could they bring a no-trust motion in parliament against PM Oli. They are left with no option but to prepare to face the early convention of the party or the wrath of the people reeling under the COVID-19 fear.
People’s Review Print Edition
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