The Oli faction has agreed to halt street protests against the Prachanda camp in an effort to build an environment conducive to talks, ET has learnt. Oli could offer Prachanda NCP’s sole chairmanship at the party’s upcoming national convention and prime ministership for the next term

NEW DELHI: Following Chinese intervention, Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli and his rival in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ have agreed for a temporary ceasefire before Wednesday’s intra-party meeting aimed at ending the political impasse in the Himalayan state.

The Oli faction has agreed to halt street protests against the Prachanda camp in an effort to build an environment conducive to talks, ET has learnt. Oli could offer Prachanda NCP’s sole chairmanship at the party’s upcoming national convention and prime ministership for the next term.

Over the weekend, the Chinese envoy to Nepal, Hou Yanqi was involved in hectic parleys with various factions of the NCP to save the regime. Following this initiative, the regime survived, sources from Kathmandu told ET.

Top NCP leaders, including Prachanda, have been seeking Oli’s resignation. According to them, Oli’s recent anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate”.

The political future of Oli will now be decided on Wednesday. The meeting of the NCP’s 45-member Standing Committee was scheduled to be held on Monday. But it was postponed at the last minute. Oli and Prachanda were expected to meet on Monday ahead of the meeting. Oli’s press advisor Surya Thapa said the meeting was postponed until Wednesday.

The differences between the two NCP factions — one led by Oli and the other led by party’s executive chairman Prachanda on the issue of power-sharing— intensified after the prime minister unilaterally decided to prorogue the budget session of Parliament last Thursday.

The development came after China’s ambassador Hou Yanqi met NCP’s senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Sunday. Hou had also called on Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday, Nepals My Republica newspaper reported on Monday.

This is not the first time that the Chinese ambassador has intervened in Nepal’s internal affairs at a time of crisis. Recently, when NCP’s intra-party feud had reached its climax, Hou held separate meetings with Bhandari, Oli and other senior leaders including Prachanda.

For the third time, NCP’s Standing Committee meeting has been postponed. Last week, the meeting was postponed twice to allow Oli and Prachanda time to iron out their differences over power-sharing. The Prachanda-led faction has asked Oli to resign from both the posts of the prime minister and NCP chairman. Oli is not ready to quit any of the two key posts.

There has been a demand from the party’s senior leaders and cadre to adhere to the principle of ‘one man one post’ in the party.

If Oli sacrifices one of the two executive posts, a solution to the present crisis could be found, ET has learnt.