The Standing Committee meeting has been postponed by another two hours, till 1 pm. (Reuters)

A crucial meeting of Nepal’s ruling communist party to iron out differences between Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and the rival faction led by former premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” was on Tuesday deferred by two hours after the two leaders sought some time for informal discussion to settle key issues.

The Standing Committee meeting has been postponed by another two hours, till 1 pm, said Ganeshi Shah, member of the Standing Committee and a senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (NCP).

The party is supposed to discuss the power-sharing issues during the powerful Standing Committee meeting, which has already been postponed for seven times since June 24.

The meeting was postponed for two hours as the two top leaders of the party- Oli and Prachanda – required some time for informal discussion to settle key issues, party sources said.

Top NCP leaders, including Prachanda, have been demanding Oli’s resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate.” They are also against Oli’s autocratic style of functioning.

The differences grew further after Oli said that some of the ruling party leaders are aligning with the southern neighbour to remove him from power after his government issued a new political map incorporating three Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.

The Prachanda-Nepal faction rejected the allegations, saying it is them who have asked for resignation, not India.

Explained: Why Nepal PM Oli blames India in tussle with old rival Prachanda

Prachanda has said that he will not allow the party to split and any attempt from anywhere to weaken its unity would hurt the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters.

Prachanda on Monday said efforts were going on to resolve the intra-party differences and ruled out an early general convention of the party as proposed by embattled Prime Minister Oli.

“Going for the general convention is not a bad idea but without proper preparations, it is not possible as various issues including the party ideology also need to be sorted out,” Matrika Yadav, a Standing Committee member, quoted Prachanda as saying at the meeting.

Prachanda’s remarks came amid reports that he had reached an understanding with Oli on holding the general convention by November/December and that the prime minister would back him as the party chair.

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