The intra-party dispute in ruling CPN was seen to have been settled on Saturday through a decision to take Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam to the House of Representatives (HoR). But the real truce happened between Prime Minister (PM) and CPN Chairman KP Sharma Oli and fellow Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, it has since been revealed.
Dahal, who had vehemently criticized Oli and demanded his resignation during the secretariat meeting on Wednesday, made an about turn during the Saturday meeting without knowledge of senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal with whom Dahal had allied to oust Oli.
Sources close to both Oli and Dahal have confided with Setopati that the two chairmen had a truce reviving their previous agreement about Oli leading the government and Dahal the party.
Oli had reached similar agreement with Dahal even on November 20, 2019 to break the Dahal-Nepal alliance against him. But the language was not clear then.
The party formed after unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) had made both Oli and Dahal chairmen. But Oli was ranked top and wielded the executive rights.
The party continued to have two chairmen and the previous ranking remained but Dahal was to lead the party and Oli the government as per the November agreement. "The party meetings will be jointly chaired but Dahal will generally chair party meetings and operate the party," the agreement read.
The two co-chaired a few meetings but Oli continued to singularly chair meetings as internal dispute escalated capitalizing on lack of specific language in the agreement.
CPN sources now claim that the latest agreement will be specific and the mutual trust between the chairmen has also increased.
The major grievance of Dahal was also about unilateral operation of the government and appointments by Oli. He was said to be particularly aggrieved by Oli's decision to recall envoy to China Leela Mani Paudel who was appointed by the coalition government of Maoists and Nepali Congress (NC) led by Dahal.
"The two leaders have also decided to discuss and forge consensus even on issues related to governance," a leader involved in facilitating the truce stated.
Oli who had been cornered by the alliance of Dahal, senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal, and Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam Gautam against him on Wednesday had proposed that Gautam be made the PM after the end of coornavirus pandemic. "Let's make him PM by amending the Constitution to allow even a National Assembly member the PM or by vacating any constituency and getting him elected from there," Oli proposed after Dahal demanded Oli's resignation at the start of the secretariat meeting.
The proposal caught Dahal-Nepal alliance off-guard but attracted attention of Gautam as Oli intended. Deeming that Gautam would be swayed by his life-time dream of becoming PM at least once before he dies and ditch the alliance, the party sources claim, Dahal opted for truce with Oli.
"The pressure for truce between the chairmen increased as the two factions moved forward in a way to corner the other faction. The party would have met an accident otherwise," the leader added.
The leader claimed that the two chairmen reached agreement following efforts on Thursday and Friday. The two chairmen will take the latest agreement as a proposal in the upcoming standing committee meeting. "A proposal will be presented in the standing committee in a way that everyone is clear about how and on which agenda the two chairmen agreed," the leader confided. "Party unity and trust will be bolstered on that basis."
The leader claimed that the latest truce is not intended to corner senior leader Nepal. "The party will be moved forward in a united manner satisfying everyone. Both the chairmen are also ready to change a few federal ministers and chief ministers for that."
