Standing committee meeting of ruling CPN called for Wednesday has been postponed.
CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha told Setopati that the meeting has been postponed due to rising cases of COVID-19 and lack of testing of standing committee members.
The standing committee called for Thursday was postponed indefinitely last Wednesday.
Prime Minister (PM) and Chairman KP Sharma Oli and fellow Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal last Wednesday had agreed to postpone the meeting for a few days on Oli's insistence.
Twenty standing committee members including Bhim Rawal, Surendra Pandey, Matrika Yadav, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Ashta Lakshmi Shakya among others on April 22 had written to the two chairmen to convene standing committee meeting.
The secretariat meeting on May 2 had then decided to convene one on Thursday. But it was called off on Wednesday on Oli's insistence.
The secretariat meeting convened earlier on the day to prepare proposal for the standing committee meeting had 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 General Secretary Bishnu 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," a 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.
Standing committee members close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on May 5 had decided to demand one person, one position during the standing committee meeting.
A decision to that regard was taken by a meeting of Dahal-Nepal faction held in Patan on May 5. The meeting also discussed about asking PM Oli's resignation.
The decision of the Dahal-Nepal faction came in contrast to reports that the intra-party dispute in ruling CPN was resolved on May 3 through agreement between Oli and Dahal.
Dahal, who had vehemently criticized Oli and demanded his resignation during the secretariat meeting on April 30, had made an about turn during the meeting on May 3 without knowledge of senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal with whom Dahal had allied to oust Oli.
