KATHMANDU, JULY 7
A 10-member taskforce formed by the CPN-UML is close to clinching a deal between the establishment faction led by party Chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the rival faction led by former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal. That's what taskforce members from both the factions told mediapersons today.
Taskforce member Gokarna Bista, who is close to Nepal, said after the taskforce meeting today that the taskforce was close to ironing out differences between the two camps on almost all issues.
Bista said the taskforce members agreed that all party committees and structures that existed before the CPN-UML's merger with the CPN-MC in 2018 would be revived.
Bista said the taskforce members were working on how to resolve issues related to the management of former CPN-Maoist Centre leaders who defected to the UML after the nullification of the unity of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and party leaders who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had asked former UML lawmakers who had supported Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba's bid for prime ministership to withdraw their support to him and those who had filed a petition along with the leaders of other political parties demanding reinstatement of HoR to withdraw the petition.
Leaders of the Nepal-Khanal faction had, however, turned down both his requests, saying those actions were taken to save democracy and the constitution.
Another taskforce member, Subas Chandra Nembang, who is close to Oli, said they would sit for talks again tomorrow and, if need be, Oli and Nepal could also meet. He said the discussions in the taskforce were positive and they could soon reach a conclusion.
As factional feud intensified in the UML after Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, the establishment faction expelled some leaders of the rival faction, including Nepal, from the party. The Nepal faction, on the other hand, formed parallel committees across the country.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 8 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
