KATHMANDU: Five secretariat members of ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) including party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal today met with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, another co-chair, to request him to call the Secretariat meeting.

Dahal held an informal meeting with senior leader Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, vice-chair Bamdev Gautam, and spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha before heading to the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar this morning, a party leader told THT Online on the condition of anonymity.

Dahal’s move comes at a time when the rift between the two co-chairs has widened, especially after a no-trust motion was filed against Karnali Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi and Oli’s unilateral decision to reshuffle the federal Cabinet and nominate ambassadors.

Oli has been refusing to call party bodies’ meetings to discuss political issues.

Dahal has accused Oli of taking unilateral decisions against the spirit of the party’s Standing Committee meeting.

The NCP Standing Committee had recently decided that the PM would have a free hand in dealing with day-to-day affairs of governance, but he would have to abide by the party’s decisions and rules on policy issues and matters related to appointment to constitutional bodies and nominations of ambassadors.

The Dahal faction had also flayed Oli for meeting India’s Research and Analysis Wing Chief Samant Kumar Goel recently.

Four of the secretariat members — PM Oli, Deputy PM Ishwar Pokhrel, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel — had stayed away from the informal meeting called by Dahal on Friday.