A meeting of senior CPN-UML leaders including party chair and prime minister KP Sharma Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Monday ended with both sides proposing their ideas but refusing to budge from their stances.

Monday’s meeting was the first between Oli and Nepal in about four months ever since they met on November 10.

The UML is currently divided along two factions led by Oli and Nepal.

The Oli faction on Monday asked the Nepal faction to cancel the national gathering of its leaders and cadres scheduled for March 17-18. The Nepal group demanded that Oli withdraw the decisions taken on Friday, including induction of 23 Maoist members into the Central Committee.

Leaders said both sides disagreed to each other’s demands and the meeting ended with the promise to continue talks in the future.

“Oli was not ready to withdraw the unilateral decisions made on March 12,” said Bhim Rawal, a Standing Committee member. “We are ready to reconcile if Oli withdraws the March 12 decisions. Or else, we will go ahead with our decisions.”

On March 12, through a Central Committee meeting, Oli had decided to amend the party statute to incorporate 23 leaders of CPN (Maoist Centre) and changed the responsibilities of party leaders, stripping leaders close to Nepal of their responsibilities.

The Oli faction has called another meeting of the Central Committee on March 20, which the Nepal faction has said it would not attend until the decisions taken on March 12 are not withdrawn.

“It’s not only about (the decisions of) March 12, there are several issues including the national gathering and another Central Committee meeting scheduled for March 20,” said General Secretary Ishwar Pokhrel following the meeting. “We will gradually evaluate other activities as well including the 19-page document against Oli.”

On November 13 last year, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, when he was the chair of then Nepal Communist Party (NCP) had prestend a 19-page document, levelling serious allegations against Oli, his fellow chair, which had led to souring of relations between them.

Monday's meeting was attended by Subash Nembang, Pradeep Gyawali, Bishnu Poudel and Ishwar Pokhrel from Oli's side while besides Ghanashyam Bhusal, Surendra Pande, Gokarna Bista, Bhim Rawal and Raghuji Pant had accompanied Nepal.

Though they have agreed to continue dialogue, the date for the next meeting has not been fixed yet.

Monday's meeting comes a day after 11 leaders of the Nepal group issued a press statement saying they should continue their struggle against Oli as he was leading the communist movement towards an end.