A day after senior leaders, including Pushpa Kamal Dahal, demanded Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation both as party chair and prime minister, Oli on Wednesday held consultation with his Cabinet ministers and some Standing Committee members close to him.

A minister told the Post that the prime minister called all Cabinet members and some Standing Committee members to his residence at 8am.

Dipendra Shrestha, personal aide to Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel, said around 20 Standing Committee members, along with Cabinet ministers, are at Baluwatar.

Insiders say the Baluwatar meeting is discussing how the Oli faction will present itself during the Standing Committee.

Oli is under pressure to resign for his failure to run the government.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Dahal and senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, along with 11 other Standing Committee members, sought Oli’s resignation as prime minister and party chair on the grounds that he had failed to effectively run the government and the party.

They also charged Oli with floating unsubstantiated claims on Sunday that plots were being hatched in New Delhi and Kathmandu to unseat him. They had demanded that Oli provide proof of such plots.

Addressing a programme organised to mark the 69th birth anniversary of the late communist leader Madan Bhandari, Oli said conspiracies were being hatched in Delhi and Kathmandu to topple him over his government’s move of releasing a new political map of Nepal depicting Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territories. India claims these territories as its own.

Oli on Sunday had taken a swipe at the Dahal faction as well, saying the Nepal Communist Party and its Parliamentary Party were not going to be swayed by anyone.

According to insiders, Oli feels that the opponent faction in the ruling party could consider employing the Parliamentary Party, where Oli falls short of around eight seats, to oust him.

Oli met President Bidya Devi Bhandari also on Tuesday.