The informal secretariat meeting of ruling CPN called by Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has started at the party's central office in Dhumbarahi.
Senior Leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Nepal, Vice-chairman Bam Dev Gautam and Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha are attending the meeting along with Dahal.
Spokesperson Shrestha said all nine members of the nine-strong secretariat were invited for the informal meeting but four including Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli, Deputy PM Ishwore Pokharel, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and General Secretary and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel are not attending the meeting.
Oli had refused to convene the meeting when Dahal proposed one and was not expected to attend the informal meeting convened without his consent. The three ministers, two of whom are from Oli faction, have cited work at their respective ministries for not attending the meeting.
Thapa, who is a former Maoist leader, has tried to remain neutral in the internal dispute stretching back to last year and rarely attended factional meetings even as the Dahal camp count Thapa to be with the camp.
The meeting has been called to discuss the current crisis in the ruling party. Oli has adopted a confrontational tone and, Dahal claims that he proposed to even split the party on Sunday.
