At a two-day conference of district chiefs that concluded on Saturday, leaders blamed the unclear ideological position for their poor show in the second Constituent Assembly elections.

Half a dozen district chiefs who spoke to the Post after the convention pointed to the lack of clarity in the party’s ideological line and the disillusionment among cadres. They suggested unification with the CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction.

“Party leadership should define the party’s ideological position as soon as possible. All the participants drew the party’s attention on the same issue,” said Netra Adhikari, the UCPN (Maoist) Parbat district chief.

The district chiefs were called to Kathmandu in an effort to strengthen the party’s position at the grassroots level and prepare a plan for conducting its national convention in May. They said the party’s position passed by the seventh general convention in February last year was unclear. The convention officially abandoned the party’s line of “protracted people’s war” and decided to launch a “capitalist revolution through peaceful means” and abide by the federal democratic republic. “We have to define that our ideology is different from UML’s. If we fail, there is a danger that the party could be another UML,” added Adhikari. According to the district leaders, the main problems faced by the party at present are its political line and the weak organisational structure. “Once the national convention settles the organisational row, we should initiate a debate on ideology,” said Pushpa Bikram Malla, party’s Dhading district committee in-charge.

The leaders want the party’s ideology different from that of the UML or the breakaway CPN-Maoist. Even top leaders confessed to having a state of ideological dilemma.

Addressing the meeting, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the Nepali Congress and the UML have failed to give a momentum to the constitution-drafting process, creating confusion and uncertainty in the people.

“The chances of a timely constitution are fading due to the ruling parties’ lack of attention,” Dahal lamented. “The CA is without an agenda due to the negligence of the NC and the UML,” he added.

Senior leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha asked the district chiefs to work towards rebuilding the party base. “We should not be nervous about the election results because it is not a yardstick to test our strength,” Shrestha told the meeting. The conference decided to complete the district conventions within the last week of March.