The prolonged deadlock within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is finally coming to an end. On Friday, the party formed a six-member taskforce to explore the ways to resolve the deepening factional rift that had threatened the continuity of the government as well as the hard-won stability of the country. Prime Minister and party chairman KP Sharma Oli and co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda held talks on Thursday and Friday at the interval of nine days. The lack of communication between the two chairs had given rise to various sorts of speculations and uncertainty. Friday’s dialogue remained fruitful, as they agreed to constitute a panel that will draw up a blueprint to run the government and party based on the mutual understanding and set guidelines. In order to maintain the factional balance, the taskforce included two leaders each from the three influential factions led by PM Oli, Prachanda and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. The panel is expected to complete its tasks within four days at the longest.

The NCP has been bogged down by the raging bickering between the rival groups, as the nation has been reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, with resulted lockdown dealing a fatal blow to the fragile economy. The ruling party is supposed to mobilise its over 800,000 cadres to fight the coronavirus that is now spreading at an alarming rate. But the unity of the party suffered cracks with the growing misunderstanding between the top guns. They engaged themselves in the hostile blame game. The disgruntled leaders accused the PM of undermining the former in course of taking vital decisions. On the other, the PM expressed dissatisfaction over the overbearing posture of top brass dead-set to upset the government’s apple cart. Both sides were at loggerheads, creating vertical differences among the rank and file of the party. The Prachanda-Nepal faction demanded that the PM step down from the both posts – PM and party chair --, which apparently sounded irrational, as it went against the grain of the party unity and electoral mandate. PM Oli had accused the rival faction of hatching conspiracies to topple the government in collusion with external forces.

As the leaders failed to sort out the differences in the party’s platforms, the Standing Committee meeting, which was first called for June 24, has been deferred for the seventh time. It was supposed to sit on July 28 but was postponed indefinitely. Formed with the new-found understanding, the taskforce should be able to put to rest the long-drawn quarrel that has precluded both the government and party from acting decisively and effectively. As the country is undergoing the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, the government and the party must work in unison through a high-level mechanism that should be guided by people-centric vision and strategy. The mechanism needs to promote consultative culture for the government needs constructive and critical support of the party machinery to tackle the mammoth problems facing the nation. The party is yet to hold the unity convention slated for April next year. A clear action plan and schedule is necessary for successfully conducting the convention which will decide new leadership and guiding principle of the party. However, the deal sans ethical norms and democratic values is unlikely to resolve fundamental contradictions roiling the party for more than a year.