A team of senior Communist Party of China officials that landed on Sunday continued their interactions with the leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal on Monday in an effort to negotiate peace between the two rival factions of the ruling party in Kathmandu.
Chinese President Xi Jinping last week delegated to the delegation led by Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the international department of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party, after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli surprised his detractors in the party and dissolved the Parliament. New elections for the 275-seat House of Representatives have been scheduled in two phases on April 30 and May 10 next year.
It was reported that President Xi told Guo Yexhou, who flew to Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport on a scheduled Air China flight with three delegates, to step up Ambassador Hou Yanqi’s efforts to keep the Communist Party of Nepal in one piece. . Approximately 7-8 other communist party officials entered Nepal from the land border.
Guo Yezhou’s team met with President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday. The president’s office has not given any details of the discussions or the guests, except to confirm the Chinese team’s meeting with Bidhya Devi Bhandari, who had approved the recommendation to dissolve the parliament.
PM Oli, who felt reluctant to engage with the Chinese and had previously scolded the Chinese ambassador for her interventions, met with the Chinese team on Sunday night. Prime Minister Oli’s foreign affairs adviser Rajan Bhattarai described the meeting, which according to local media reports, lasted for two hours, as a “courtesy call”.
On Monday, Guo Yezhou’s delegation headed to the Khumaltar residence of former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, who leads the rival faction within the communist party to discuss options to prevent the party from splitting. Guo will next meet another former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal who is aligned with Prachanda.
Guo Yezhou is a familiar face in Nepalese political circles and is believed to have played a role in the formation of the Communist Party of Nepal in 2018 by merging Prime Minister Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and the Party Prachanda Communist from Nepal. – Maoist center. Prachanda and Prime Minister Oli had been co-chairs of the Communist Party of Nepal as part of the pact signed when the party was formed in 2018.
Nepalese observers said President Xi’s Communist Party of China wants the government led by Prime Minister Oli to overturn the presidential order dissolving parliament and has offered to use its influence with the rival faction led by Prachanda and Madhav Nepal. to roll back and guarantees that he could complete his five-year term.
The rumor in Nepalese political circles is that Prime Minister Oli stood firm and indicated that he preferred to let the Supreme Court make the decision on the presidential order. Five judges of Nepal’s high court have started hearing a dozen petitions filed against President Bhandari’s order to dissolve the House of Representatives.
It also emerged that Prime Minister Oli pointed to his previous talks with Ambassador Hou, who at one point wanted him to resign and stated that it would not be possible for him to revoke his cabinet’s recommendation.
In a televised address to the nation that followed the dissolution of Parliament, Prime Minister Oli lamented that his rivals within the party had not let him work and had planned to present a vote of no confidence against him.
Prachanda and Madhav Nepal, who led the offensive against him, are known to be planning to form a government with the Nepalese Congress and the Janata Samajwadi Party, the two opposition parties that have been launching heavy attacks on Prime Minister Oli for his decision. .
.
