KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 9

Co-chairpersons of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal today met and prepared the agenda for the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for Friday.

Earlier, the ruling party's Secretariat had asked the two co-chairpersons to prepare a proposal for the Standing Committee meeting on the basis of the report submitted by the six-member task force.

The six-member task force had stated that Oli would remain the prime minister till the general election and would focus on governance, while Dahal would hold party meetings, implement party decisions and focus mainly on party affairs.

The task force had also suggested that the party prepare for the first unity convention scheduled from April 7 to 12 on the basis of consensus.

Dahal's Personal Aide Bishnu Sapkota said the two co-chairpersons had prepared the proposal to be discussed in the Standing Committee and they, if deemed necessary, could consult Standing Committee members before the party body's meeting on Friday.

Standing Committee member Lilamani Pokharel said he had received the proposal sent by the cochairs but had yet to go through it.

Pokharel said the proposal would be discussed in the Standing Committee if it incorporated the seven agenda already under consideration of the Standing Committee or else the seven agenda would be discussed on Wednesday.

He said the task force report was a kind of truce between the two factions, but it might not be enough to settle the differences within the party. "The most important thing for us is to find the root of the problem and try to solve it. If the person who has made mistakes apologises for his/her mistakes then that is fine, otherwise the party body will have to take a harsh decision and punish the wrongdoer," he said.

Seven agenda that the Standing Committee meeting of the ruling party had been discussing before the meeting was postponed indefinitely, included COVID-19, the government's performance, relation between the party and the government, millennium challenge corporation agreement and border issues with India.

The NCP faction led by Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal had asked Oli to resign either as PM or party co-chair, but Oli had refused to quit any of the two posts. The Dahal faction toned down the rhetoric against Oli after he adopted measures to outsmart the rival faction.