Amid growing public discontent with the government and a widening rift between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, top leaders of the two ruling parties on Wednesday tried to dispel the “rumours”.

Speaking after a meeting of the political mechanism involving the two parties on Wednesday, the leaders said that relations between the coalition partners remain intact and cordial.

Some senior Nepali Congress leaders like General Secretary duo Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, and senior leader Shekhar Koirala, have been expressing concern over the poor government performance and publicly attacking the government, ministers, and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The meeting of the cross-party mechanism formed to support the Oli government also urged those questioning the performance of the government to look at facts, figures and evidence.

“I asked those criticising the government to evaluate its performance based on facts and figures,” said Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak following the meeting of the high-level political mechanism.

Lekhak claimed that the country’s overall economic indicators are positive, service delivery is improving and other areas of performance are also good.

Congress General Secretary Thapa had said on Tuesday that “middlemen” have gained access to “the prime minister’s bedroom” and condemned their growing influence in national decision-making.

On Wednesday, another Congress General Secretary Sharma also criticised some government decisions. “Some decisions should not have been taken, like on the social media bill, and there was a strong voice within the Congress that Kulman Ghising should not be removed from the post of Nepal Electricity Authority managing director,” Sharma wrote on X.

Sharma also pointed out delays in addressing the demands of the agitating teachers and criticised the decision to hold up the bill on the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, the constitutional anti-graft body.

The recent resignation of Tribhuvan University Vice-chancellor Keshar Jung Baral, the failure to appoint new Nepal Rastra Bank governor, delay in the promotion of six Nepal Police additional inspectors general are also points of contention between the Congress and the UML, according to Sharma.

But Thapa, who is also a member of the high-level political mechanism, was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.

“I have no comments on the leaders’ statements,” Lekhak said. “Of late, economic indicators have been moving in a positive direction, and service delivery is improving too. Data provided by Nepal Rastra Bank also shows the government is moving in the right direction. Let’s look at data and facts.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung claimed on Wednesday that Prime Minister Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba had reached an agreement on the appointment of Nepal Rastra Bank governor, which has become another point of friction between the Congress and the UML.

But he did not reveal who is going to succeed Maha Prasad Adhikari, the outgoing governor.

On the issue of agitating teachers, Minister Gurung said the government will pass the School Education Bill through a fast-track process. Thousands of school teachers have been staging protests in Kathmandu for over two weeks. The government has been unable to assure the teachers that their concerns will be addressed.

Promising to pass the bill through a fast-track approach from the new session of Parliament, Minister Gurung urged the agitating teachers to end their protests. The government is seriously working to address their demands, he added.

The meeting of the political mechanism ruled out the possibility of government change, something some Congress leaders as well as Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leader of the main opposition, have been speaking about.

“There is no misunderstanding between us,” said Lekhak. “Those public comments are misleading.”

The central bank governor will be appointed soon after the recommendation committee completes its formality, he said.

“In order to address the demands of the agitating teachers, we have called the House session. Besides, we will keep talking with the agitating teachers,” he added.

In the meeting, Congress President Deuba defended the government, saying that the Congress-UML coalition was an outcome of national necessity and it would get continuity.

“Definitely, there are some issues,” Deuba said at the meeting, according to a leader present there. “We face questions even while leading a single-party government. This is a government of the two largest parties. So there are issues but we have to move forward by addressing them.”

Oli reportedly also expressed dismay at the statements made by some leaders over some appointments and promotions of police officers.

“But we [Congress and UML] do not have any dispute,” said Lekhak, dismissing the rumours about a rift.