SEAnews 2020-08-03 ArtNo.46855

【Kathmandu】A crucial meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Secretariat held here on July 18 failed to reconcile differences between party Co-chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the rival faction led by another Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
　Party Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who is also a member of the nine-member Secretariat, told The Himalayan Times that today's meeting did not give any way out to the problems in the party.
　NCP is plagued by factional rift with the Dahal-Nepal faction pressing the PM to quit either the post of prime minister or party chair and PM Oli refusing to quit any of the two posts he holds.
　PM Oli, who delivered his speech on the first day of the Standing Committee meeting in June, skipped the party body's meeting or left the meeting after briefly attending the meeting to the consternation of Standing Committee members.
　PM Oli, who has fallen into minority in all party bodies — the Secretariat, Standing Committee and Central Committee — recently accused India of hatching a plot to topple him. He made this remark when majority of the Standing Committee members had asked him to step down accusing him of ignoring the party's directives.

○Both Co-Chairs of the party visit the president

　Nepal Communist Party (NCP) co-chairs Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal made their way to meet President Bidya Devi Bhandari at her official residence, following the party's secretariat meeting, this evening.
　Motive behind visiting the President is still under speculation. The sudden meeting of the two co-chairs with the President has further added to the ongoing uncertainty that looms around the current political scenario of Nepal.

○Relations with India and China

　A source close to Dahal said that Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that he should resign also because he had courted diplomatic and political controversy recently.
　The source did not elaborate the controversy, but the prime minister had said on Monday that the real Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram was in Thori, Nepal's Parsa district, angering civil society members and party leaders, including his own party leader Bamdev Gautam, who asked him to apologise to the public for making baseless remarks.
　A few days ago, PM Oli had also said that the entire Indian state apparatus was hatching a plot to topple him for his role in depicting Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in Nepal's emblem.
　The source also said Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that he must resign as prime minister in order to help the party fulfil the pledges made in its election manifesto.
　Earlier this month (July), Ambassador of China to Nepal Hou Yanqi met with Madhav Kumar Nepal, which looked 'unusual and untimely' and sparked concerns across the country. Yanqi also reached out to another NCP leader Jhala Nath Khanal that fueled speculation regarding China's 'interests' in internal matters of the ruling party. Later, it was learnt that Yanqi had visited former PM and NCP (NCP) co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, along with many other senior leaders in the party.
【News source】

Oli refuses to quit as PM, party co-chair

NCP co-chair Dahal, senior leader Nepal ask PM Oli to resign for courting controversy, Oli refuses

NCP co-chairs Oli and Dahal visit Prez Bhandari after secretariat meeting

Oli-Dahal talks hit a deadlock for the eighth time in a row

Madhav Nepal joins Oli-Dahal in Baluwatar talks on Thursday

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