The stalled standing committee meeting of ruling CPN scheduled to resume at 11 Friday morning has again been postponed.
Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli's press advisor Surya Thapa tweeted that the meeting has been postponed until three Friday afternoon.
The meeting of CPN Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and General Secretary Bishnu Paudel on Thursday had decided to resume the standing committee meeting at 11 Friday morning.
Oli and Dahal again talked Friday morning to try to reach agreement before the standing committee meeting. They are still talking and have now agreed to delay it by four hours.
The standing committee meeting has been stalled since July 2. It has been repeatedly postponed to try to resolve the internal dispute.
The two chairmen have had multiple one-on-one meetings in the intervening period. Nepal and Paudel participated in the meeting on Thursday.
Secretariat members of the anti-Oli faction had met at Dahal's residence in Khumaltar earlier on Thursday. Senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa talked with Dahal to forge strategy.
They had concluded that standing committee should be resumed and PM Oli should obey any decision taken by the standing committee.
The party's standing committee meeting has been postponed multiple times in recent times to buy time for reconciliation between the warring CPN Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Though the party has cited the natural disaster for the latest postponement announced on Friday, the chairmen are nowhere near agreement since the last postponement with both the chairmen firm in their respective stands. It was unlikely to resume last Friday even without the natural disaster with the second rung leaders urging the chairmen to resume standing committee meeting only after they reach agreement.
CPN Chairmen Pushpa Kamal Dahal has proposed Prime Minister (PM) and fellow Chairman KP Sharma Oli to move forward as per the five-point agreement signed at the time of party unification.
Dahal has made the proposal to revert back to the five-point agreement on May 17, 2018 before the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) unified. Oli in response says he regrets the May 17 agreement and adds he is not ready to discuss about resigning from either of the two positions of leading the government and the party.
Oli has told ministers and state ministers that plots are being hatched to impeach the president and topple the government. Dahal and senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal in turn have met President Bidya Devi Bhandari and assured her that they do not plan to impeach her.
The two factions, meanwhile, have started to woo the main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba to form coalition government should the ruling CPN split.
Deuba has informed the central committee of Nepali Congress (NC) that he has been approached by both the factions, more actively by that of Oli, but he has yet to give commitment to either faction.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi, meanwhile, has met Dahal and senior leaders of CPN Jhala Nath Khanal Madhav Kumar Nepal as the dispute in the ruling party exacerbates.
The Chinese envoy had also met Nepal and CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on May 1 when CPN was similarly mired in internal dispute. She had also met Prime Minister (PM) and CPN Chairman KP Sharma Oli a few days before May 1. Many believed that her meetings played a role in dousing the fire in the ruling party then.
The ruling CPN formed after unification on May 18, 2018 on the basis of the five-point agreement is on the verge of split now.
The fourth point of the agreement mentioned that the two chairmen will lead the government as necessary on the basis of equality and equal period.
Dahal had relinquished his claim for the post of PM after the two chairmen signed an agreement on division of responsibilities in presence of President Bidya Devi Bhandari on November 20, 2019.
Dahal was made chairman with executive rights. Oli and Dahal were to remain chairmen, and Oli to continue to be ranked top but Oli had handed over the executive rights to Dahal.
Dahal was to lead the party and chair party meetings while Oli would lead the government through the current term of House of Representatives, according to the agreement.
The current dispute has arisen as Dahal feels aggrieved that Oli continues to run even the party unilaterally.
The overwhelming majority of members during the ongoing standing committee meeting seeking resignation of PM KP Sharma Oli.
Oli has not been attending the standing committee meeting most of the times and he suddenly prorogued the House session on July 2 in what the rival faction deems to be a threat to split CPN bringing an ordinance to make splitting of parties easier as he had done in April.
Oli had also brought similar ordinance in April when the intra-party dispute was escalating and later took it back to defuse the situation following widespread criticism both inside and outside the ruling party.
The government cannot bring ordinances when the House session is on.
The Cabinet on April 20 had brought an ordinance about political parties to make splitting of parties easier. The Cabinet had brought the ordinance allowing splitting of a party with support of 40 percent in either the parliamentary party or the central committee. The act about political parties requires support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party.
An overwhelming majority of members during the ongoing standing committee meeting have demanded Oli's resignation. Oli is in similar minority even in the central committee and would struggle to muster necessary 40 percent to split the party as is required by the current law.
Bringing a similar ordinance will allow him to split ruling CPN with backing of 40 percent in just the parliamentary party should he decide to split the party. An application for registration of erstwhile CPN-UML, reportedly with Oli's blessing, has already been filed at the Election Commission.
