Ruling Nepal Communist Party standoff continues

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has postponed its Standing Committee meeting till tomorrow in an attempt to reconcile differences among party co-chairs, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The rival faction of the NCP has demanded Oli's resignation, while some other leaders have asked him to quit both posts of Prime Minister and party co-chair, reports The Himalayan Times. Oli has, however, refused to quit.

According to Standing Committee member Haribol Gajurel, the stalemate continues with both Oli and Dahal sticking to their guns.

Dahal told Oli, yesterday that despite the agreement between them on leading the government by turns, he had given the latter the full five-year term, but the Prime Minister failed to run the country well and there was growing frustration in the party, according to Gajurel.

Apart from holding one-on-one negotiations, Oli and Dahal are also talking through their confidants to find a middle path.

NCP leaders have to consider the possibility that any attempt by the Dahal-Nepal faction to unseat the Prime Minister could lead to a vertical split of the party along with consequences not only at the central level but also the provincial and local levels.

"A vertical split amid the coronavirus pandemic could invite political instability, which could reverse all the hard earned political changes," Gajurel was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times.

Another Standing Committee member told The Himalayan Times that the Oli's decision to bring ordinance to allow party dissidents to split their parties with the support of either 40 per cent members of the Central Committee or the Parliamentary Party, and his decision to abruptly prorogue the budget session of the Parliament had riled rival faction leaders..