KATHMANDU: As tensions simmer within the Nepali Congress (NC) over the performance of the coalition government, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba held a crucial hour-long meeting at the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday.

The high-level talks came against the backdrop of mounting frustration among senior NC leaders over what they see as the government’s ineffectiveness. After earlier criticism from Dr. Shekhar Koirala, General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa added fuel to the fire, comparing the government’s sluggishness to “a turtle’s crawl.”

Senior NC leader NP Saud has also joined the chorus of disapproval, openly lambasting the government’s approach.

While Nepali Congress leaders have gone on the offensive, their coalition partner, the CPN-UML, has chosen to remain silent. A UML Secretariat meeting held Monday stopped short of addressing the criticisms, instead calling vaguely for the government to be made “more effective.”

UML leader Dr. Rajan Bhattarai confirmed that Tuesday’s meeting between Oli and Deuba focused on reviving momentum and coordinating more closely within the ruling alliance.

The talks come at a politically volatile moment. Opposition leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ recently claimed that a new government led by the NC could take shape in the upcoming Nepali year 2082 BS—a remark that has stirred anxiety within the ruling bloc.

Amid this backdrop, internal dissent in the NC is reaching a boiling point. On the same day as the Oli-Deuba dialogue, Gagan Thapa delivered a stinging rebuke, alleging that middlemen had even encroached on the Prime Minister’s bedroom—highlighting the growing rift between the government and its own allies.