The standing committee meeting of ruling CPN called for Thursday has been postponed indefinitely.
CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel told Setopati that the two chairmen have agreed to postpone the meeting called for Thursday by a few days. A secretariat member close to Prime Minister (PM) and Chairman KP Sharma Oli said the meeting has been postponed as PM Oli did not want it.
The secretariat meeting convened earlier on Wednesday to prepare proposal for the standing committee meeting ended inconclusively after PM Oli left it midway citing tiredness and did not return.
The responsibility for preparing the proposal was given to another Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Paudel. "They have not finished the proposal. The government is now focused on COVID-19. It is also time to present the government's policies and programs, and budget in the parliament," the secretariat member quoted PM Oli as saying at the start of secretariat meeting. "I have faced exertion. My body is aching, I will rest. You all continue," the secretariat member quoted Oli as saying before leaving the meeting.
The other leaders waited for him to return for a long time and ended the meeting inconclusively after he did not turn up. They urged Dahal to stay at Baluwatar and discuss with Oli about whether to convene the standing committee meeting on Thursday or not, and to decide the proposal to be presented to the meeting.
The meeting was postponed after Oli during the meeting with Dahal insisted that the meeting should be called off. A source close to Dahal claimed that he stressed on holding the meeting but had to relent after Oli did not budge.
Standing committee members close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday had decided to demand one person, one position during the standing committee meeting on Thursday.
A decision to that regard was taken by a meeting of Dahal-Nepal faction held in Patan on Tuesday. The meeting also discussed about asking PM Oli's resignation.
This decision of the Dahal-Nepal faction comes in contrast to reports that the intra-party dispute in ruling CPN was resolved on Saturday through agreement between Oli and Dahal.
Dahal, who had vehemently criticized Oli and demanded his resignation during the secretariat meeting last 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.
The fact that Oli has refused to hold standing committee meeting on Thursday hints that the reported truce between the two chairmen is not holding up.
