CPN-UML on Thursday has formed a parliamentary board also including Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal.
The parliamentary party meeting called by Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli at the PM's residence in Baluwatar has formed the 27-strong board led by Oli who is the parliamentary party leader. Deputy parliamentary party leader Subash Chandra Nembang, chief whip Bishal Bhattarai and whip Shanta Chaudhary are ex officio members of the board.
Other members include Khanal, Nepal, Suman Pyakurel, Bimala Rai, Khim Lal Bhattarai, Radha Gyawali, Damodar Bhandari, Binda Pandey, Bidya Bhattarai, Rajendra Rai, Rekha Jha, Sher Bahadur Tamang, Chhabi Lal Bishwokarma, Raghubir Mahaseth, Narad Mani Rana, Mohan Baniya, Bhupendra Thapa, Khem Lohani, Sarita Neupane and Bimala BK.
Lawmaker Tamang told Setopati that three members will be nominated later to complete the board that includes no one from the Khanal-Nepal faction apart from Khanal and Nepal.
The faction boycotted the parliamentary party meeting called by Oli and convened a meeting of lawmakers at Hotel Heritage Garden in Sanepa before the meeting called by Oli.
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.
