Deferral of NCP Standing Committee draws flak

KATHMANDU, JULY 17

The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) postponed its Standing Committee yet again after party co-chairs Pushpa Kamal Dahal and KP Sharma Oli failed to iron out their differences.

The NCP, which was scheduled to hold its Standing Committee meeting at 11:00am today, had postponed the meeting till 3:00pm, giving a few more hours to Dahal and Oli to end the stalemate, but they failed to do so and the party decided to postpone the meeting till 3:00pm on Sunday.

Leaders associated with the NCP faction led by Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal had said that today’s Standing Committee meeting would decide to take the meeting agenda to the Central Committee meeting and fix a date for its meeting.

Standing Committee members Surendra Pandey and Asta Laxmi Shakya, who are close to Nepal, said the party’s decision to postpone the Standing Committee meeting lowered the dignity of the party’s top body, which had already dwelt on some of the agenda fixed for the meeting.

Shakya said, “The Standing Committee meeting could have given direction to the party at a time when the country is battling coronavirus and natural disasters caused by torrential rain. The government needs to provide relief to vulnerable sections of society, including farmers who are facing shortage of seeds and fertilisers,” she said, adding that repeated postponement of the Standing Committee had also adversely affected the party’s unity process.

“Since the unity process has not been completed yet, thousands of party cadres are without roles and assignments.

This is affecting the ruling party’s performance,” she said.

Shakya said leaders’ desire to serve their personal ambitions and interests was the root cause behind the Standing Committee’s failure to take a call on key political issues.

Deputy Parliamentary Party leader Subas Chandra Nembang said only Oli and Dahal, who were the signatories to the party unity deal, could break the impasse. “Decision to postpone the Standing Committee meeting that was supposed to fix a date for the Central Committee meeting was taken after talks between Dahal and the PM. I think that is a positive step,” he said, adding that time was not ripe to hold the party’s Central Committee meeting.

“When the party decided to hold the Standing Committee meeting, we told party leaders that due to the risk of coronavirus infection, it would not be appropriate to hold the meeting.

Yet the meeting was convened in violation of the government’s rules. Now if a meeting of the Central Committee, which has more than 450 members, is called, that again will violate the ban imposed on large gatherings by the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the NCP has decided to hold its emergency meeting of the party Secretariat 3:00pm tomorrow.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.