Prime Minister and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli has briefed senior leaders of his party that the situation in the days to come may not be a smooth sailing.

Referring to situations inside and outside the country, he told the party leaders that there was a need for the government and the party members to work harder.

Speaking at the central secretariat meeting held at the Chyasal-based party office in Lalitpur on Thursday, Prime Minister Oli briefed members of the party’s central secretariat on the potential challenge the country may face if “anarchy” continues, a party vice-chair said.

“Since we are not in an easy situation, both the government as well as the party should work efficiently,” UML vice-chair Asta Laxmi Shakya quoted Prime Minister Oli as saying.

Oli was referring to the recent political upheaval in Bangladesh, Shakya said.

A student-led uprising in Bangladesh ousted the country’s longest serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on August 5. Hasina was not only ejected from power but she also had to flee the country due to the growing public anger towards her government.

Though an interim government was formed on August 8 led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, the situation in the South Asian nation is still chaotic.

Shakya says that after Oli’s speech, members of the secretariat also expressed their concerns over growing lawlessness in the country.

The leaders discussed the incident of some youths chanting slogans against Prime Minister Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba at a function marking Gaura Parva (a festival celebrated especially in the Sudurpaschim Province) at the Kathmandu Tundikhel on Monday.

When youths chanted slogans against Prime Minister Oli, he was forced to cut his speech short.

Police have arrested three youths accusing them of chanting slogans against the two leaders.

“It is high time we strengthened our party organisation to counter the anarchists growing in the country,” Shakya quoted Oli saying.

One of the leaders who participated in Thursday's meeting said the leaders also expressed dissatisfaction at the work division that was decided after the party joined the government.

Shakya does not fully agree that the leaders are dissatisfied. “In the work division, someone has to take some role,” Shakya told the Post. “If there are any mistakes in the work division among the leaders, the party should correct it next time.”

Meanwhile, the UML central secretariat meeting also decided to call the politburo meeting on September 3 and 4.

The party is holding its first politburo meeting after the central secretariat meeting on August 1 decided a work division among the top party leaders.

“The agenda of Thursday’s secretariat meeting was to present the party’s annual action plan,” Surendra Pandey, a UML vice-chair, told the Post. “The annual action plan will be discussed at the politburo meeting.”

The renewal of party members and their management, mobilisation of the party’s sister wings, the conduct of the party’s convention, organising more people in the party, assigning responsibility to district-level leaders who were defeated in the convention, and responsibilities for new party members were part of the annual action plan, Pandey said.