KATHMANDU, MAY 16
The two rival factions of the CPN-UML today agreed to form a 10-member taskforce to resolve their differences and keep party unity intact.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the chairman of the UML, held talks with Madhav Kumar Nepal, who heads a faction of the party opposed to Oli, and decided to form a taskforce with five members from each faction to iron out their differences.
Nepal's camp will be led by Bhim Bahadur Rawal. Other members from the Nepal faction in the taskforce are Ghanashyam Bhusal, Gokarna Bista, Raghu Panta, and Surendra Pandey.
The Oli faction will be led by deputy parliamentary party leader Subas Chandra Nembang.
Other members of the Oli faction in the taskforce are Minister of Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, PM's Chief Adviser Bishnu Rimal, and Lumbini Chief Minister Shankar Pokharel.
Nepal said the taskforce would try to submit its report within three days, but the deadline could be extended.
He said the taskforce would try to address the demands that he recently put forth before the PM. Nepal has sought to revive all party committees that existed before the UML's merger with the CPN-MC. He has also asked Oli to rescind his decision to amend the party statute and induct 23 former Maoist leaders into the party's central committee after the Supreme Court nullified the unification of the UML and the CPN-MC to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
UML lawmakers of the Nepal faction had initially threatened to resign from the House of Representatives en masse, but on May 10 when Oli sought a vote of confidence, 28 lawmakers form the Nepal faction abstained from voting. The Nepal faction has formed parallel committees across the country.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 17, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
