During the meeting, PM Bhattarai urged Baidya to halt the protest program being launched by the faction led by the senior vice-chairman, saying that the protest drive only sends a negative message to the public, other political parties and international community. [break]
In response, Baidya is said to have expressed his readiness to reconcile the recently surfaced differences in the party through internal discussion.
Taking a serious exception to the party’s decision to hand over the keys of arms containers to the Special Committee as part of the ongoing peace process, the Baidya faction has announced a rigorous protest drive throughout the country.
On Friday, it staged an hour-long transport shutdown in the morning and took out torch rallies in the evening, protesting the party establishment’s keys handover decision Thursday.
Dubbing it as a ´suicidal´ move, the dissident faction has demanded that the party establishment scarp the decision immediately.
As a gesture of protest, the faction had even boycotted the party’s Standing Committee meeting Friday afternoon. Baidya and leaders close to him are however said to participate in the SC meeting today.
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