By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, July 3: The sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the ruling Nepal Communist party (NCP) on Thursday began later than the stipulated time, convened for a short time and finally was postponed till July 4.
The meeting previously scheduled for 11:00 am was delayed as party co-chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli left Baluwatar to hold a meeting with President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
The meeting was put off shortly after two SC members expressed their views on the agendas tabled in the 4th SC meeting.
The meeting sat for just half an hour at the Prime Minister’s official’s residence in Baluwatar, as senior leaders were busy holding separate meetings in a bid to narrow down the intra-party rift.
After postponing the SC meeting, the two party chairs PM Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had a separate meeting. Immediately after the meeting, Prachanda reached Sheetal Niwas to hold a meeting with President Bhandari.
President’s chief personal secretary Dr. Bheshraj Adhikari confirmed that chair Prachanda went to hold discussion with the President on the latest political developments after the President prorogued the budget session of the parliament at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.
Party Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the meeting was stalled after two SC members, Keshab Badal and Amrit Bohora expressed their views on the two recently set agendas. The meeting was halted because the ministers had to attend the Cabinet meeting which was called at 12:00 coinciding with the SC meeting, he added.
According to Shrestha, earlier on Thursday morning both party chairs, PM Oli and Prachanda, had agreed not to hold the Cabinet meeting and give continuity to the SC meeting. They had also agreed not to prorogue the budget session.
“Despite the agreements, PM Oli called the Cabinet meeting and decided to prorogue the ongoing budget session,” said Shrestha.
Following this, the meeting was postponed to hold a separate meeting between PM Oli and Prachanda in the participation of General Secretary Bishnu Poudel and some leaders of the party secretariat.
Realising that the ongoing intra-party differences could pose a threat to the party unity, the meeting highlighted the need for strengthening and safeguarding the party unity at any cost and take the party ahead as per the need of the nation and people, he said. So the next SC meeting would hold discussion to resolve the intra-party rift and strengthen party unity, he added.
He further said PM Oli and Prachanda and other top most leaders of the party would find out solutions to narrow the intra-party disputes until tomorrow.
Differences between the two party chairs escalated at a time when border issues between Nepal and India have flared up, after the country approved a bill to redraw the country’s map incorporating Lipulek, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory.
Lately, PM Oli has been under severe pressure from party leaders, including chair Prachanda, senior leaders Madhav Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal to give up both the posts of PM as well as the party chair.
Following the PM’s recent controversial remarks that plots were being hatched to unseat him, the senior leaders have piled pressure on PM Oli to step down from both posts on the ground that he had failed to provide effective leadership to both the government and the party.