Kathmandu. The ruling party, Nepal Communist Party (NCP), is at a crucial juncture at present. There are speculations that the party would split as the two chairs of the party KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ are heading towards two different directions.

The internal dispute in the party has been aggravated by the meeting of the party chair, Prime Minster KP Sharma Oli, with the chief of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) at Baluwatar. Some hold the opinion that the motion of no-confidence issue at Karnali Province has also added fuel to the fire.

Leaders of the party are making earnest appeals to save the unity of the party. Bhim Rawal, NCP leader, who is also a former deputy prime minister and defense minister, has tweeted that there is no other way than to call a meeting of the permanent committee and seek a solution.

He has added,” Rules, system and institutional decisions are the main bases in running a party and managing the disputes that arise thereof. Let the meeting of the permanent committee be called immediately. If anybody opposes it and opts for party division or segregation, then it will be a betrayal towards the people and a crime against NCP. Let us resolve the problem understanding the value of unity and keeping the welfare of the nation in mind.”

Similarly, another NCP leader Laxmi Gautam, also deputy mayor of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City, has vented her anger in social media. She resented that rumors of party disintegration had started before the completion of party unification. She writes that even after three years of initiation, the unification process has not been complete, and there are no proofs yet to validate the unification. The unification of the two parties had been opted to make a stronger Communist party and run the government without disturbance for a full tenure of five years. People have put faith upon NCP and they still hope that it would work for the greater good, she said.

Analyzing the developments in the NCP, experts opine that the party could disintegrate before the formal unification is completed. Many leaders of NCP had foretold that the unification would not last as some leaders shared vested interests and groups were visible from the very beginning.

All comments and statements in the social media signal that the NCP is going to split in the near future. The internal conflict in the NCP has not taken such a grim turn for the first time though. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had brought an ordinance related to party division earlier but had withdrawn it later after receiving heavy criticism from within the party.