Kathmandu. Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Secretariat meeting on November 18 had concluded that party Chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli would present a political proposal on the next meeting in response to Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’s proposal and both their  proposals would be discussed and a resolution would be reached thereafter. PM KP Sharma Oli has readied his proposal to be presented on Saturday.

Prachanda had earlier prepared a 19-page long political document making numerous accusations on PM Oli, damaging the relation between the two beyond repair. In his document, PM Oli is supposed to have collected his dissatisfactions against Prachanda since the Maoist insurgency till date.

There are equal chances for the amendment of Oli’s proposal, news source said. “There are some people with extremist ideologies, within the party and outside, who want to provoke the prime minister and split the party,” source close to the prime minister told DCNepal. “The prime minister is aware of that. His proposal will be balanced, contrary to talks making rounds.”

If Chair Oli doesn’t respond to Chair Prachanda’s allegations, everyone will have opinions that there is some truth, if not all, in the accusations. Hence, it has become necessary to provide answers, but with proper decorum and decency, the source said.

In the meantime, leaders have tried to persuade Prachanda and make him withdraw his proposal but since Prachanda remained resolute against the demand, chances are getting slimmer for the proposal to be taken back.

News source claims that the Oli group will try till evening today to convince Prachanda to take back his proposal and suggest the two leaders to prepare a joint proposal. If Prachanda withdrew his proposal, PM Oli would not have to respond to it and their joint  proposal would convey a positive message among the party members and cadres. However, Prachanda has not consented to this idea.

PM Oli’s group is planning to form a majority at the secretariat and dismiss the issue of the proposal with general discussion at the meeting. They are trying to entice two other members of the Prachanda group to their side so that they can form a six-member majority in the nine-member secretariat.

The plans to bring Deputy Chair Bam Dev Gautam, and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa to their side has not materialized though. Gautam is disgruntled with PM Oli for betraying him on many occasions, and it is said that Thapa has backed Prachanda’s report.

The secretariat-dissolution strategy

Among the nine members of the NCP Secretariat, five are on the Prachanda side whereas four are on the Oli side, that makes the Oli faction in minority.

If Prachanda does not withdraw his proposal until Saturday and the Oli faction does not gain the majority too, the leaders close to PM Oli have given signs that the prime minister could take another step – to propose to dissolve the secretariat, calling the present secretariat a failure.

A leader close to PM Oli told DCNepal, “The basis of all differences in the party at present is the secretariat. Had the secretariat nor raised and forwarded Prachanda’s proposal, the whole issue would have ended immediately. The secretariat has been a failure. As suggested by the permanent and central committee members, it may have to be dissolved and reorganized.”

while the intraparty dispute in the NCP was burgeoning, PM KP Sharma Oli had given an interview to AP1 television in which he had talked about transferring leadership to the younger generation. On the meeting of the secretariat on November 18, party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel had pointed at the need to dissolve the secretariat.

These opinions from the Oli group hint what they have in their minds in case their strategy did not work.