A Tuesday meeting of the Nepal Communist Party's two chairs—KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal—has finalised the agenda for Wednesday's Standing Committee meeting.

Bishnu Sapkota, press adviser to Dahal, said that the two leaders held a nearly two-hour discussion, which began at around 12 noon, as part of preparations for Wednesday's Standing Committee meeting.

[Read: Why the MCC compact courted controversy in Nepal]

“The two chairs have agreed to discuss the Millennium Challenge Corporation at the Standing Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow,” Sapkota said.

The Standing Committee meeting is expected to finally take a decision on the US-led Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Nepal compact, which has long divided leaders within the ruling party. As even the party's nine-member Secretariat, the highest decision-making body, has been unable to take a unanimous decision on the MCC, calls had grown to call a Standing Committee meet to discuss the issue within the party.

[Read: Nepal Communist party taskforce gives final touches to MCC report]

With the June 30 deadline to begin implementation of projects under the $500 million aid programme approaching, pressure is mounting on the ruling party to come to a conclusion and pass the Nepal compact via Parliament.

While Oli is intent on passing the MCC Nepal compact, many leaders, including Dahal, are more circumspect. Dahal believes that the Nepal compact should only be passed after amendments, as per the recommendation of a three-member task force formed by the party to study the compact.

Oli plans to ask Dahal to clarify his position given that the MCC Nepal Compact was signed in September 2017 during the tenure of a coalition government between the Nepali Congress and Dahal's Maoist party, according to Surya Thapa, Oli's press adviser.

[Read: Parliament should decide whether to endorse MCC compact, Oli says]

The party's Standing Committee meet was last called for May 12 but has been consistently put off, primarily by Oli, who is also the prime minister. Party leaders have accused Oli of attempting to evade responsibility for his government's failure to adequately handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier, the Secretariat would determine the agenda and process of the Standing Committee meeting but this time, the two chairs have agreed to take the issues directly to the committee.

More Related Stories:-

- Amending the MCC Nepal compact could violate the Vienna Convention

- US embassy attempts to clear the air on MCC

- Task force advises government not to endorse MCC in current form

- Divisions in the ruling party over the MCC put Oli government in a bind