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Kathmandu, Nepal, November 10, 2020: Even though the deadline set by the five dissident members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to call Secretariat meeting elapsed on Monday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is also a chairperson of the party, has given no sign to call the meeting at any time soon.
As Prime Minister Oli has been ignoring the call a meeting, executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal would call a meeting on his own in the consent of majority members of the nine member secretariat to chalk out the new strategy.
Since the six-member task force, which had apparently rescued party from the vertical split on last September, failed to convene a meeting on Monday despite the attempt from Oli’s side, it is likely that the rival factions would move on their own in days to come leading the party towards the vertical split.
Considering to the deadline set by the dissident leaders to call the secretariat meeting, general secretary Bishnu Poudel, who is loyal to Oli, had called a meeting of the taskforce at Prime Minister’s official resident, Baluwatar. But the meeting did not convene after members from the former Maoist party did not show up.
Among the six-member task force formed in September consisting of Shankar Pokhrel and Bishnu Poudel from Oli’s side, Bhim Rawal and Surendra Pandey from Madhav Nepal’s side and Pampha Bhusal and Janardan Sharma from Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s side, members from Dahal’s side did not show up raising relevancy questions of the task-force .
Five members of the Secretariat namely Jhalanath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam, Narayenkaji Shrestha including executive chairman Dahal and Nepal had written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking his consent for calling the Secretariat meeting. However, Oli has so far refused to call the Secretariat meeting stating that a meeting will be called only when there are issues to discuss.
Reliable source close to the NCP claims that the dissident leaders would first call a secretariat meeting to demand secretariat meeting in a formal way. Other members of the secretariat including Prime Minister Oli will compel to attend in the meeting if the majority members call the meeting to discuss current issues.
The dissident leaders have a belief that Prime Minister Oli’s talk of splitting the party would not work as he has no majority in all the party committees namely standing committee, central committee, parliamentary party and the secretariat.
As Prime Minister Oli would wait for a meeting until he garnered majorities, the dissident leaders should call first the secretariat meeting to compel Oli to abide by party decision, a standing committee member, who claims himself as loyal to Nepal, said preferring anonymity.
As Oli is being cornered from all sides, he has attempted most to woo the leaders from the formerly CPN UML. He has been holding meetings with Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bam Dev Gautam since the second waves of differences surfaced in the party. It is said Nepal had suggested Oli to call the taskforce meeting.
As per the suggestion of the task force made in the last September, a meeting of the Standing Committee had taken a 15-point decision and averted the possible split of the party. However, conflicts resurfaced again after Oli allegedly failed to abide by the decision taken from the standing committee.
As per the deal the government and party related decisions should have taken in consultation among the top leaders. However, both the rival factions have alleged each others for violating the understanding.
