KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 18

Co-chair of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal today told party leaders and cadres that his faction was trying to make Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli toe the party line.

Addressing a gathering of his faction, particularly district chief and secretaries of Province 1, Dahal said Oli was defying party norms and orders and their attempt was to force him to correct his mistakes, according to NCP Central Committee member Jagannath Khatiwada, who attended the gathering.

Dahal said Oli had agreed to withdraw the ordinance issued to amend key provisions of the Constitutional Council Act.

However, even after the NCP Standing Committee, which Oli had also attended, unanimously decided that the ordinance be withdrawn, Oli has yet to withdraw the ordinance.

Dahal said if Oli did not withdraw the ordinance, the party would take another step to censure him. Khatiwada said Dahal did not elaborate on his next move, but hinted that lawmakers close to him would again urge the president to call a special session of Parliament.

Another senior leader of the NCP Madhav Kumar Nepal also addressed party leaders and cadres. He said the current feud in the party was to restore party norms and values and not allow anybody to defy party rules and decisions. Nepal said Oli had a tendency not to recognise the role and values of other leaders and that was at the root of the current feud.