Central committee meeting of CPN-UML has started at Tulsi Lal Amatya Academy premises in Chyasal, Lalitpur Monday.
Secretary at the central office of UML Sher Bahadur Tamang said the Monday's meeting is the 10th party meeting called in accordance to the party structure before unification with CPN (Maoist Center).
The Khanal-Nepal faction has boycotted the meeting as it has done all the recent meetings claiming they have been called unilaterally. The faction has been demanding that the series of meetings be stopped for now and the date fixed on consensus.
"We will not attend today's meeting called unilaterally," central member from the faction Met Mani Chaudhary told Setopati.
UML looked divided even during the floor test sought by Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday. A total of 22 UML lawmakers including Senior Leader Madhav Kumar Nepal voted in support of the government while 10 from the Khanal-Nepal faction were not in the House at the time of voting defying the party's decision to vote against the government.
The 22 UML lawmakers to vote in support of the government includeD eight who were earlier in the faction of Chairman KP Sharma Oli.
Oli has called the central committee meeting when the internal dispute has escalated and the 10-point deal reached by the task force formed to resolve the dispute has not been accepted by everyone.
Member in the task force from the Khanal-Nepal faction Gokarna Bista said the leaders are still trying to save party unity. "We are currently in a different situation but are still trying to unite the party," Bista said.
