• They told him he had courted diplomatic and political controversy
• Oli told both leaders he would not quit either as PM or party co-chair

KATHMANDU, JULY 16

Co-chair of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal held talks with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and asked him to step down.

Dahal, who had held talks with Oli multiple times in the last two weeks went to meet the PM with Nepal today as there was no progress in Dahal's earlier meetings with the PM. Nepal had also warned both the chairs not to go for a give-and-take deal.

A source close to Dahal said that Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that he should resign also because he had courted diplomatic and political controversy recently.

The source did not elaborate the controversy, but the prime minister had said on Monday that the real Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram was in Thori, Nepal's Parsa district, angering civil society members and party leaders, including his own party leader Bamdev Gautam, who asked him to apologise to the public for making baseless remarks.

A few days ago, PM Oli had also said that the entire Indian state apparatus was hatching a plot to topple him for his role in depicting Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in Nepal's emblem.

NCP leaders took exception to the PM's remarks saying they were aimed at portraying party leaders in a bad light.

The source also said Dahal and Nepal told PM Oli that he must resign as prime minister in order to help the party fulfil the pledges made in its election manifesto.

The source said the PM told Dahal and Nepal that he would not quit any of the posts — prime Minister or party co-chair.

Most of the Standing Committee members have asked the PM to quit either the post of prime minister or party co-chair.

Standing Committee members Yuba Raj Gyawali and Devendra Paudel, who are from the Dahal-Nepal faction said the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow would go as planned and it would not be postponed.

The NCP had postponed its Standing Committee meeting multiple times in the last few weeks in an attempt to help the Oli faction and Dahal-Nepal faction iron out their differences.

Gyawali said that if the rival factions failed to reconcile their differences, then the Standing Committee would take decisions on the basis of majority even if somebody dissented. "Our party will not split but we will not allow the status quo to be maintained in the party," Gyawali said.

The Dahal-Nepal faction has accused the PM of taking unilateral decisions ignoring the party.

Gyawali said everybody should abide by the party's decision even if it went against somebody's personal interest. "Institutional decision is what matters for a political party. The party's statute cannot be changed just because somebody raises slogan on the street," Gyawali said in a veiled reference to PM Oli's supporters chanting slogans in his favour these days.

Gyawali said party leaders were discussing various options for breaking the current impasse in the party. "If the PM does not want to quit the posts of PM and party co-chair, then he could quit at least one post.

Both co-chairs could also go for the earlier agreement whereby both would become prime minister for half of the fiveyear tenure or one co-chair would lead the government and another would lead the party with all the executive powers," Gyawali added.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 17, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.