Kathmandu, May 9

CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal met Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli today and enquired about his twitter message posted on Monday.

PM Oli had tweeted: “We are pursuing the agenda of development and prosperity. Those who are habituated to changing the political equation to gain personal advantage may not like this. In democracy people are strong, the reflection of which can be seen in the government because the government is mandated by the people. Sovereignty lies in the hands of the people.”

Yesterday, CPN-MC leaders interpreted PM Oli’s tweet as a satirical message against Dahal and urged him to raise the issue with the PM.  Oli told Dahal that he did not write the message. He also said his secretariat wrote the message, but the satire was not aimed at Dahal. In response, Dahal said if the case was so, then he should clarify about it to remove doubts, according to CPN-MC leader Haribol Gajurel.

In his one-on- one meeting in Baluwatar with the PM, Dahal also raised the issue of Oli’s working style in relation to the government’s policy and programmes and the new fiscal budget saying that his party had not been consulted on these issues. “PM Oli should change his working style. We do not like his working style” Gajurel said. According to him, Dahal raised the question of Oli’s working style.

Oli and Dahal have reached understanding that they will discuss the new fiscal budget tomorrow. Finance Minister Yubraj Khatiwada presented budgetary theories and priorities in the Parliament today.

According to sources, Dahal objected to transfer of 30 secretaries saying line ministers were not consulted before the transfer. “This transfer gave the message to civil servants that ministers did not have any say on the transfer of their line ministries’ secretaries. These employees may not listen to the ministers. This will impact people’s work,” a left alliance source quoted Dahal as telling the PM.  Dahal also told the PM that delay in unification had created doubts in the minds of civil servants.

Dahal also told the PM that apart from the home ministry, other ministries had not been able to perform effectively. Dahal gave credit to the home ministry for ending the syndicate system in public transport.

Left alliance leaders said the two parties would not discuss unification until Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit got over. Modi will arrive in Nepal on May 11 and return on May 12. According to Gajurel, the issues of party unification has almost been finalised. He said leaders just needed to give final touch.