Prime Minister (PM) and CPN Chairman KP Sharma Oli and another chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal are closing in on agreement for the party's candidate for speaker.
The duo had a positive meeting at the PM's residence in Baluwatar on Thursday and will again meet on Friday.
"The discussion between the two chairmen on Thursday moved toward positive direction. They have discussed on different alternatives," a party source confided. "Today's discussion can form the grounds for consensus."
The chairmen have not zeroed in on a single candidate yet but have talked well about possible alternatives, according to CPN standing committee member Haribol Gajurel. "We are hopeful that this will soon yield positive result. The earlier discussions seemed stuck somewhere. But Thursday's discussion was not like that. It was focused on finding consensus," Gajurel elaborated.
He claimed that the two chairmen agree that deputy speaker should resign. "There is no way that CPN will give the post of speaker to others. Deputy speaker must resign for us to get the post," he reasoned. "Deputy speaker resigning for speaker election is not just the wish of Dahal. Both the chairmen agree on that."
Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe has been defying secretariat meeting's decision asking her to resign while the party has also not been able to select its candidate.
The former Maoists in ruling CPN have started to feel that she has not resigned on instruction of Oli while Oli is unhappy after Dahal, senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, and CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha met at the residence of secretariat member Bam Dev Gautam last Wednesday.
The House meeting has already been postponed thrice due to the intra-party dispute in the ruling CPN about its candidate for speaker.
The secretariat meeting at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar on Saturday had asked Deputy Speaker Tumbahangphe to resign even as she had already turned down the request by CPN Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal to resign on Friday.
The chairman duo had urged Tumbahangphe to pave the way for speaker election by resigning during the meeting at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar Friday. But she asked for the reasons that disqualified her from being the next speaker.
"I was active in student politics and am still active. I have studied and taught. What are my weaknesses?" a source quoted her as asking the chairmen.
She also took exception to comments of CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha and chief whip Dev Gurung that the election process has been stalled due to her refusal to resign.
The source revealed that she urged the chairmen to allow her to continue as deputy speaker if deemed incompetent for speaker.
Ruling CPN cannot claim for the post of speaker if the election process starts without her resigning. The senior most lawmaker will then run the House if she resigns.
The ruling party will have to ask Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, whose allegiance is now with CPN having won the last general election on a CPN-UML ticket, to resign to keep the post of speaker with the party as the Constitution prohibits appointment of speaker and deputy speaker from the same party.
Both the former CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) factions are claiming for the post of speaker. Oli wishes to make former Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang the speaker while Dahal has been insisting that Agni Sapkota from the Maoist faction should get the post.
The Maoist faction points that it should again get the post it had received during the power sharing before party unification.
Deputy Speaker Tumbahangphe's own claim for the post and refusal to resign if denied has compounded matters for the party.
The post of speaker is vacant after Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned following rape allegation by a federal parliament secretariat staffer.
