ARJUN BHANDARI
KATHMANDU: Unified CPN-Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya and Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai, who have recently teamed up against party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s 'autocracy', today claimed to have mustered support of majority of the party’s central committee to clip the chairman’s unlimited powers off.
Dahal controls the party organisation, parliamentary party and Maoist fighters.
Sources said the Baidhya-Bhattarai faction was all set to table a proposal at tomorrow’s CC meeting to make Bhattarai the next prime minister to lead a national consensus government to be joined by the Nepali Congress.
Leaders close to Baidhya and Bhattarai claimed that as many as 74 CC members of the total 146 (two of them are suspended) are believed to have sided with the Baidhya-Bhattarai camp.
This was confirmed after the disgruntled faction held its separate meeting at Dhobighat-based Siddhartha Cottage in Lalitpur, where Nar Bahadur Karmacharya, the founding leader of the Communist Party of Nepal, was also present.
Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha, who was initially reluctant to side with the Baidhya-Bhattarai faction, also joined hands along with his loyals, according to sources.
As per the plan, Baidhya will be spearheading the party’s powerful organisation department, Bhattarai will become the parliamentary party leader and ultimately the next prime minister, and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa will lead Maoist combatants.
But Post Bahadur Bogati, who is close to Dahal, said the decision made in such a meeting would be 'meaningless'.
Emerging from the meeting, Vice-chairman Shrestha said, “The party leadership has become autocratic. So, we need to finalise work division from top to bottom.” Shrestha, however, made it clear that the signature campaign was not aimed against any individual but was meant to 'transform' the party leadership through work division.
Senior Vice-chairman Baidhya said the meeting was called to discuss work division, which would be presented at tomorrow’s CC meeting, which has been deferred time and again following internal rift over work division. Dahal though is not against giving the parliamentary party leadership to Bhattarai, he wants to hand over the baton only after August 31, when the CA’s three-month term expires.
The Baidhya-Bhattarai faction has also decided to send Shrestha to the Khanal-led government with the responsibility of deputy prime minister and home minister. Shrestha will lead the Maoist team in the Khanal-led Cabinet until Bhattarai replaces Khanal, added the sources.
But sources close to Dahal said the party chairman might also call a national council meeting if he was reduced to the minority in the CC meeting. Sources said Dahal commanded absolute majority in the national council which might overturn the CC decision.
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