The Khanal-Nepal faction of ruling CPN-UML has held a meeting of its lawmakers ahead of the parliamentary party meeting called by Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli for Thursday.
The faction, that had already decided to boycott the meeting called by Oli, has convened a meeting of lawmakers at Hotel Heritage Garden in Sanepa before the meeting called by Oli, according to a UML lawmaker close to the faction.
Chief Whip of UML Bishal Bhattarai called the parliamentary party meeting scheduled at the PM's residence in Baluwatar for 11 in the morning routine. But a party source claimed that Oli is preparing to attract lawmakers from Khanal-Nepal faction holding multiple such meetings.
The ruling party is divided after the Supreme Court (SC) on March 7 invalidated unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) restoring the two parties to the status of the day they were unified.
The dispute intensified further after Oli held a central committee meeting of his faction on March 12 and unilaterally took away responsibilities of leaders of the Khanal-Nepal faction which formed parallel committees in retaliation the next day.
The Khanal-Nepal faction has been holding a national gathering of party leaders and cadres since Wednesday.
