Senior ruling Nepal Communist Party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has joined the ongoing dialogue between the two chairpersons, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, after the two failed to make any headway to break the ongoing stalemate in the party even after at least eight rounds of talks over the past weeks.

“Nepal was invited for talks as per an understanding between the two chairs that they would continue one-on-one talks and include other senior leaders also when needed,” said Bishnu Sapkota, Dahal’s press advisor. “The three leaders are meeting at Baluwatar.”

During a two-and-a-half-hour long meeting between the two chairs on Wednesday, Oli reiterated his previous stance that he would not quit as either prime minister or party chair.

After this meeting between them, the first after a hiatus of six days, failed to forge any agreement, they decided to invite Nepal in the talks.

The ongoing Standing Committee meet, that began on June 24, had been postponed for the fifth time last Friday. The Standing Committee is scheduled to sit on Friday, but leaders are concerned the meeting could be postponed again if the two chairs fail to find a common ground.

Second rung leaders of the party have been piling pressure on the leadership not to postpone the meeting again.

Until a few weeks ago, Dahal, backed by Nepal and another senior leader Jhalanath Khanal, had upped the ante against Oli, demanding that the latter step down both as prime minister and party chair.

As many as 30 out of 44 Standing Committee members too had joined the chorus to demand Oli’s resignation.

Oli, however, on July 2, suddenly decided to prorogue the House session and two days later levelled allegations against the rival faction that it was hatching plots to oust him and impeach the President, putting Dahal and Nepal on the back foot, as they feared Oli could take some stern measures and split the party.