Nepal crisis continues as key meet of Nepal’s ruling party ends inconclusively
Kathmandu, Dec 06: The much-awaited Central Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) ended inconclusively on Saturday after embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's one-on-one meeting with the party's executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" failed to end the protracted political tussle between them.
The meeting at Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar has decided to discuss all the agendas in the Standing Committee meeting to be held at the party's central office in Kathmandu's Dhumbarahi on Sunday, NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said.
The Central Secretariat meeting discussed the problems in the party but could not reach any conclusion, he said.
NCP
executive
chairman
and
former
premier
Prachanda
and
Prime
Minister
and
chairman
of
the
party
Oli
met
one-on-one
for
around
four
hours
before
attending
the
Central
Secretariat
meeting,
party
sources
said.
The
intra-party
tussle
peaked
in
the
ruling
NCP
after
the
dissident
faction
led
by
Prachanda
and
senior
leader
and
former
prime
minister
Madhav
Kumar
Nepal
demanded
Oli's
resignation
as
the
head
of
the
government
and
the
party's
chairman.
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The Sunday's Standing Committee meeting will discuss two separate papers presented by Prachanda and Oli making allegations against each other during previous meetings.
In his 19-page political document presented on November 13 at the party's Secretariat meeting, Prachanda criticised Oli for failing to properly run both the government and the party. He even accused Oli of corruption.
Oli, however, denied the allegations and challenged Prachanda to legally prove the graft charges or apologise.
Last
week,
Oli
had
rejected
Prachanda's
accusations
that
he
was
running
the
government
without
consulting
the
party,
and
instead
blamed
his
rival
for
non-cooperation
in
handling
the
party's
affairs.
The
prime
minister
had
submitted
a
separate
38-page
political
document
in
response
to
the
allegations
made
by
Prachanda.
In
June,
Oli
claimed
that
efforts
were
being
made
to
oust
him
after
his
government
redrew
the
country's
political
map
by
incorporating
three
strategically
key
Indian
territories.
India
termed
as
"untenable"
the
"artificial
enlargement"
of
the
territorial
claims
by
Nepal
after
its
Parliament
unanimously
approved
the
new
political
map
of
the
country
featuring
Lipulekh,
Kalapani,
and
Limpiyadhura
areas
which
India
maintains
belong
to
it.
The NCP, formed after the merger between Oli led CPN-UML and Prachanda led CPN (Maoist Centre) in May 2018, is divided along the two factions led by Oli and Prachanda. The Prachanda faction enjoys a majority in the nine-member Secretariat, the highest decision-making body of the party.
After several rounds of negotiations, the Standing Committee of the party on September 11 endorsed a 15-point decision drafted by a six-member task force which was formed to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two factions.