The ruling Nepal Communist party has scrapped the task force formed to iron out outstanding issues related to its organisational unification. A Secretariat meeting of the party held at Prime Minister’s office in Baluwatar on Friday decided not to extend the deadline of the task force and entrusted the party Secretariat to prepare a draft of the proposal for the party’s organisational unification.

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who was also the coordinator of the task force, had been seeking one week time to submit the final report of the unification process in the meeting that started from Thursday. Other members of the task force had also supported Thapa’s demand. But Prime Minister and party Chairman KP Sharma Oli on Thursday had already made up his mind to scrap the task force.

With the disbandment of the task force before submitting the final project, now the top guns of the party will prepare the proposal of organisational unification and will submit it to the Standing Committee.

The decision to scrap the task force was made as per the suggestion of Prime Minister Oli, party sources said.

Emerging from the meeting, party spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha said, “Now the Secretariat will prepare the unification proposal and submit it to the Standing Committee.”

However, NCP leader Yogesh Bhattarai has expressed his reservations over the decision of the party Secretariat to dissolve the task force.

Dubbing the decision as unfortunate step, Bhattarai, who was also a member of the task force, said the decision to dissolve the task force formed by the Standing Committee to hammer out outstanding issues related to its organisational unification was against the party statute.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Parliament building in New Baneshwor this afternoon, Bhattarai accused the task force coordinator and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and General Secretary Bishnu Paudel of now allowing the task force to carry out its works.

He said the dissolution of the task force has pushed the unification process towards uncertainty and also made the party leaders and cadres disappointed.

The Standing Committee on December 28 had formed the task force to prepare a proposal for the organisational unification under Thapa.

General Secretary Bishnu Paudel and Standing Committee members Shankar Pokharel, Surendra Pandey, Barshaman Pun, Lekhraj Bhatta, Beduram Bhusal and Raghubir Mahaseth were the members of the task force.

Though the Secretariat, standing committee, central committee and province committee were formed after the unification of the two communist parties on May 17, 2018, the unification of district and former Maoist party’s people’s organisations is yet to be completed.

Although the committee had said that it would conclude the organisational unification by forming a task force, the process has been delayed as leaders have not been able to arrive at consensus on all the issues.