Kathmandu, Nepal:
Analysis of many political pundits are coming true – that the power sharing tussle between the two co-chairs of Nepal Communist Party (NCP), Nepal’s ruling party would only be resolved via a party split.
On Tuesday, the actions by both co-chairs, PM K P Sharma Oli and NCP President Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) confirm the split is inevitable – however, can be confirmed only after it is legally recognised.
On Tuesday, both co-chairs convened their own party meetings – PM K P Sharma Oli convened a 1,199 member general convention organising committee. Pradeep Gyawali, Minister of Foreign Affairs replaced Narayan Kaji Shrestha as the party’s spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Central Committee meeting of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Prachanda-Nepal faction, held in Baneshwor, NCP senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal as its Chairman, effectively replacing K P Sharma Oli as Party Chairman.
NCP spokesperson, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, informed after the meeting that 315 out of 447 central committee members were present in the meeting and that the meeting also decided to appoint Krishna Mahadur Mahara as the Standing Committee member.
Interestingly, both parties will continue to claim ownership to the party name ‘Nepal Communist Party’ – it will be referred to as Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Prachanda-Nepal faction and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Oli faction until a decision is made by the Election Comission as to the rightful owner of the party name. If the Election Commission is unable to decide, the grievances will be heard by court.
Only once the court has given its decision, the split of Nepal Communist Party will be legally recognised.
