Oli, Dahal bury the hatchet with joint proposal

KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 10

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the two co-chairpersons of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), have buried the hatchet and have sent a joint proposal to the party’s Standing Committee members. In the proposal, Oli has agreed to give full executive powers to Dahal.

The proposal states that day to day affairs of the government will be Oli’s responsibility, but on major issues, the PM should take the party’s consent, a Standing Committee member told THT.

The two co-chairs also agreed to ratify Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement signed between Nepal and the United States of America only after it is amended.

This is in line with the report of the three-member task force of the NCP.

The task force had stated that the MCC agreement was against Nepal’s national interests and should be amended before it is ratified by the Parliament.

According to the NCP Standing Committee member, Oli and Dahal have also proposed to complete the party unification process by mid-October.

They also proposed to bar party leaders and cadres from criticising party leadership on the social networking sites.

Dahal and Oli prepared the proposal for the Standing Committee meeting on the basis of the report submitted by a six-member task force after being asked by the party Secretariat to do so.

The six-member task force had stated that Oli would remain the prime minister till the general election and would focus on governance, while Dahal would hold party meetings, implement party decisions and focus mainly on matters related to the party.

The NCP faction led by Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal had asked Oli to step down as PM or party co-chair, but Oli had refused to quit any of the posts.

Dahal faction lowered rhetoric against Oli after he adopted counter measures to outsmart the rival faction.

An NCP Standing Committee member said that although Oli had agreed to give full executive power to Dahal, it was yet to be seen whether or not he would stick to the new decision. “Oli had agreed to give full executive power to Dahal almost six months ago, but that was not implemented in practice. We’ll have to see if Oli adheres to this new understanding or not,” the member added.

He said Oli had a habit of going back on his word and if he did the same again, it would not surprise party leaders.

The member added that it would depend on the sincerity of the two co-chairpersons whether they finish the tasks related to party unification within the next one month.

“Our Central Committee had decided to complete unification related tasks within 15 days, but that decision has not been implemented even after months.

“We will have to see how the two co-chairpersons will complete unification related tasks within a month,” he added.

The member said the tussle between leaders of rival NCP faction could intensify in the run up to the next general convention, as all the factions and influential leaders would want more of their loyalists to become General Convention representatives.

The leader said Nepal, who had backed Dahal in the recent fight against Oli, felt betrayed by Dahal and could act as a permanent opposition within the party.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

The post Oli, Dahal bury the hatchet with joint proposal appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

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