Co-chairpersons should stop criticising other leaders

Kathmandu, December 27

The Standing Committee of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) today rejected party Co-chairperson and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s request to adopt the political document that he had jointly submitted with Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Oli spoke for more than two hours, painting rosy pictures of his government’s performance, in an attempt to convince his fellow leaders, who had criticised his performance in the government and the party, yet Oli failed to win the hearts and minds of NCP leaders.

According to Standing Committee members, when Oli proposed that the SC endorse the  political document, Bamdev Gautam, Bhim Rawal and Ghanashyam Bhusal said the document offered no clarification on several issues, such as whether or not  one person, one post would apply, what would be the status of the decisions taken by the party secretariat and whether or not the party’s statute would be reviewed. They also demanded the PM’s clarification on what should be the party’s minimum programme and how it could play a decisive role in framing the government’s policies and programmes.

The committee directed the PM to offer more clarification in tomorrow’s meeting.

“The PM failed to give details of party unification roadmap and did not spell out programmes his government would bring to win people’s hearts and minds,” an SC member told THT, adding, “Even after two weeks of discussion there are no takeaways.”

“Party co-chairpersons should stop criticising other leaders and overcome their weaknesses,” another SC member said. “The PM took the issues raised by leaders lightly, but those issues are serious,” the leader added.

Oli and Dahal held a meeting at Baluwatar this morning in an attempt to prepare a joint defence against the critics’ arguments. Dahal had told the SC yesterday that the joint document would be revised incorporating other leaders’ suggestions and feedback. All the Standing Committee members except Devendra Poudel and Janardan Sharma, who are in the US, attended the meeting.

According to NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the PM told the meeting that the party and the government should focus on strengthening the democratic system and ensuring social justice, equality and good governance. According to Shrestha, the PM also said that the government and party should make efforts to achieve the goals of development and prosperity. The PM also floated a proposal for forming a task force to complete party unification by mid-January, he added.