KATHMANDU, APRIL 18
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is the chairperson of the ruling CPN-UML, has called a meeting of the party's 10th General Convention Committee tomorrow to discuss issues of by-election, disciplinary action against Karnali lawmakers who crossed the floor recently during trust vote, and to allocate responsibilities to all central committee members.
UML lawmaker in the National Assembly Khimlal Bhattarai, who is close to Oli, said tomorrow's meeting would also discuss UML establishment faction's strategy against the rival faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanth Khanal, whose supporters recently crossed the floor during the trust vote in Karnali Provincial Assembly.
The UML's establishment fears that the Nepal-Khanal faction might take such steps in other representative bodies, including provincial assemblies and the Parliament.
The establishment faction will allocate responsibilities to all central committee members who are members of the party's 10th General Convention Committee.
The Nepal-Khanal faction has been saying that Oli had arbitrarily amended the party statute on March 12 to induct 23 former Maoist members into the party's central committee. The rival faction has been demanding that the establishment faction revoke the March 12 decision.
UML's Discipline Commission Chair Amrit Kumar Bohara, meanwhile, has urged Oli not to hold the 10th GCC meeting to keep the party unity intact. He fears that tomorrow's meeting could further alienate the rival faction of the party.
Bohara also urged the PM to withdraw his March 12 decision to induct 23 CPN-MC members in the party's central committee and his decision to reshuffle party committees.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
