The ruling Nepal Communist party has scrapped the task force formed to iron out outstanding issues related to its organisational unification.

A party Secretariat meeting at Baluwatar decided on Friday not to extend the task force deadline and entrusted the Secretariat instead to prepare a draft proposal for the party’s organisational unification.

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who was also the coordinator of the task force, had sought one more week to submit the final report of the unification process at the meeting that started on Thursday. Other members of the task force had also supported Thapa’s demand.

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

Emerging from the meeting, party spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said, “Now, the Secretariat will prepare the unification proposal and submit it to the standing committee.”

However, NCP leader Yogesh Bhattarai has expressed 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 it was against the party statute.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament building in New Baneshwor on Friday afternoon, Bhattarai accused the task force coordinator Thapa and party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel of hindering the task force from carrying out its works.

He said the task force’s dissolution has put the unification process in uncertainty and made the party leaders and cadres disappointed.

On December 28, the standing committee had formed the task force to prepare a proposal for the organisational unification under Thapa.

General Secretary 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 standing 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.