INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, July 1
A day after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was asked by Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Standing Committee members to resign
from both the posts of prime minister and party co-chair, the PM was advised by his aides in the party to reach out to the rival
faction.
Oli held a meeting with his key confidants, including Cabinet ministers, this morning asking them what course of action he should
follow.
According to Gandaki Province Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung, who was present in the meeting, leaders suggested that the PM
reach out to party leaders in an attempt to win their confidence but without quitting as PM or party co-chair.
&Party unification process
has not completed yet and if the PM quits the post of party cochair, it will adversely impact the party unity process,& Gurung said, adding,
&Party leaders should not seek resignation of the PM at a time when the PM has done exemplary work by forging national unity.& Gurung said
some leaders suggested that the PM change his working style to win the confidence of all leaders in the party.
D e p u t y p a r l i a m e n
t a r y party leader Subas Chandra Nembang said the PM told leaders that the party was facing tough time and Standing Committee members
close to him should defend him in the meeting
Nembang told the PM to reconcile his differences with party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal in order to end the standoff.
Of the 18 Standing
Committee members who spoke in the Standing Committee meeting yesterday, 17 had demanded Oliresignation — some explicitly, some
implicitly.
Standing Committee members, including Dahal, NCP Vicechair Bamdev Gautam and Jhalanath Khanal had sought the PMresignation
Leaders said the PMcharge that India was plotting to unseat him from the top post undermined the prestige of the people and Parliament of
Nepal that elected the prime minister.
Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai advised the PM to take the
criticisms with an open mind and accept his mistakes while correcting them in a bid to resolve differences within the party.
NCP General
Secretary Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ishwar Pokharel, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock
Development Ghanashyam Bhusal and Province 5 Chief Minister Shankar Pokharel were also present in the meeting.
However, ministers Barshaman
Pun, Shakti Basnet and Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, who are close to party Co-chair Dahal were not present in the meeting.
Dahal, meanwhile, held a
separate meeting of his faction late in the evening
NCP Standing Committee member Haribol Gajurel said Dahal told party leaders that Oli was acting arbitrarily and the party needed to censure
his arbitrary actions, while keeping the party united.
&While party unity is important for us
We cannot let things go awry in the name of party unity,& Gajurel quoted Dahal as telling party leaders.
A version of this article appears
in e-paper on July 2, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
The post PM advised to reach out to rival NCP faction appeared first on The Himalayan
