Kathmandu, May 7

Twenty Standing Committee members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) who had recently submitted an application demanding that a meeting of the party Standing Committee be held immediately, gathered at the party headquarters in Dhumbarahi today and decided to pressure the nine-member Secretariat to call the next meeting of the Standing Committee soon.

Standing Committee members who gathered today are close to party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

A meeting of the party Secretariat held yesterday had put off the Standing Committee meeting as party Co-chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had left the meeting midway. Oli continues to oppose the 20 members’ demands, saying there was no need for holding the Standing Committee meeting, as the two ordinances opposed by the Standing Committee members had already been repealed.

Asta Laxmi Shakya, who is among the 20 members who have been seeking immediate convening of the Standing Committee meeting, told THT that they decided to gather at the party office today to chalk out their strategy.

“We felt snubbed after the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for today was put off due to Oli’s opposition. How can the PM ignore 20 members of a powerful party body?” she wondered.

“Our party is not built on the sole contribution of Oli, but countless other leaders and cadres have shed blood and sweat for the party,” she added.

Shakya said Oli decided to bring two ordinances mainly to engineer split in other political parties and to appoint his favourites in constitutional bodies at a time when the entire country was battling against coronavirus. The PM’s action was aimed at weakening hardearned democracy and republican order, she added.

“How can we accept Oli, who acted to fulfil his personal political interests at a time of COVID-19 crisis, as our chairperson?” she wondered.

Shakya said that they did not want to discuss political issues at a time when the country was battling the COVID-19 pandemic, but they had realised that if they did not raise the serious issue of ordinances with the PM, then he could take more such steps in future to usurp power. Shakya said the PM offered party positions to party leaders mainly to show them in poor light — greedy and only concerned about their own position even when the country was fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, talking to mediaperson at the Federal Parliament, NCP Co-Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he and the PM would meet again and reschedule the Standing Committee meeting soon.

He said the scheduled meeting was put off as they needed to do more homework.

Standing Committee member Subas Chandra Nembang, who is close to Oli, told THT that Standing Committee members were free to air their views, but as far as the Standing Committee meeting was concerned, the last meeting of the party Secretariat did not deem it appropriate to hold the next meeting of the Standing Committee.

Oli is opposed to include oneperson-one-post on the agenda of the next Standing Committee meeting, something that the 20 members want.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 8, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.