The Secretariat meeting of the Nepal Communist Party has endorsed the decision to form a six-member task force to resolve the ongoing conflict in the ruling party.

A meeting of the two chairs–KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal–on Friday decided to form the task force led by General Secretary Bishnu Poudel to prepare a proposal for resolving the outstanding issues.

Three senior leaders Madhav Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, however, had questioned the process of the formation of the task force and demanded that the task force must be validated by a party committee.

Endorsement of the task force by the Secretariat on Monday now has paved the way for it to start its work, according to Shrestha, the party spokesperson.

Shrestha said no timeframe has been given to the task force yet to come up with its recommendations on ways to resolve the internal disputes and running the party and the government.

The ruling party has been vertically divided between the two factions led by Oli and Dahal.

The Dahal faction had been demanding that Oli resign both as prime minister and party chair. Oli had refused.

After a series of negotiations between Oli and Dahal, the two chairs on Friday decided to form the task force, with two members each from their factions and as many from the Nepal group.

The task force includes Poudel and Shankar Pokhrel from the Oli faction and Janardan Sharma and Pampha Bhusal from the Dahal camp. Bhim Rawal and Surendra Pandey represent the Nepal faction.

“We are hopeful that the party’s conflict will be settled within a few days,” Shrestha said.

The ruling party is also mulling a Cabinet reshuffle as part of a large power sharing deal among the factions led by Oli, Dahal and Nepal.

However, Monday’s Secretariat meeting did not discuss the issue, said Shrestha.