National
Maoists hasten merger with UML
A headquarters meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) on Saturday decided to devote effort towards completing the preparations for announcing party merger with the CPN-UML before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s planned visit to India in the first week of April.Tika R Pradhan
A headquarters meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) on Saturday decided to devote effort towards completing the preparations for announcing party merger with the CPN-UML before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s planned visit to India in the first week of April.
Maoist leaders said party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented the proposal of an early merger in Saturday’s meeting. As PM Oli wished to make his maiden foreign trip as the head of a unified communist party, the Maoist meeting decided to complete all the pending works at the earliest so as to ensure the announcement before the visit.
“Since the top leaders of the two parties have agreed to announce the unification before PM Oli’s India visit, the Maoist Centre has decided to gear up necessary preparations to meet the deadline,” said Mani Thapa, a member of the Maoist headquarters. Maoist leaders claimed that PM Oli and Maoist chief Dahal have agreed to announce the merger before Oli leaves Kathmandu for New Delhi though the UML has not spoken officially about the plan.
The developments, as claimed by leaders from both parties, are significant as it would be easier for the prime minister to deal with foreign countries in a stronger position.
Senior Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha told the Post that the two parties will direct their efforts at the merger before Oli’s India visit. Though formal announcement of the dates is yet to be made, the Indian side has proposed hosting Oli on April 6-8. Kathmandu is also expediting preparations towards that end. Earlier, the Party Unification Coordination Committee (PUCC) had agreed to announce the merger on April 22, the day the Communist Party of Nepal was established.
They said the merger could be announced before April 22 if the necessary groundwork was laid earlier. As the parties eye early unification, the two taskforces have been directed to complete their works soon. Subas Nembang, a member of the Madhav Nepal-led taskforce, said they would try to give final touches to the political document of the unified party by Sunday. “Both the parties are working to announce the unification at the earliest,” said Nembang.
Leaders involved in the unification bid said all the works on the UML side are almost over while the Maoist Centre still has some tasks such as fixing the number of its major executive committees to complete. The Maoist Centre has called a meeting of its secretariat on March 29 for giving the party committees their concrete shape. For instance, the Maoist central committee is shapeless with more than 4,000 members.
Taskforce members have reported to the leadership that they have completed more than 75 percent of their works and that their reports would be submitted to the PUCC in two days. The PUCC would finalise the reports for endorsement by both the party committees.
Maoist Centre reshuffles province chiefs
The Maoist Centre has decided to reshuffle its provincial leaders after some of those in charge were appointed ministers or got responsibilities in Parliament. After the party suspended Province 1 in-charge Gopal Kirati, Ram Karki has been named for the responsibility. Since Province 2 in-charge Matrika Yadav, Province 5 in-charge Barshaman Pun, and Province 6 in-charge Shakti Basnet have become ministers, they have been replaced by Biswonath Sah, Mani Thapa and Janardan Sharma, respectively. Hitraj Pande has got the charge of the party’s Province 4 organisation while Dev Gurung has been appointed the chief whip of the Parliamentary Party. Hitman Shakya and Lekhraj Bhatta continue as chiefs of the party organisations in provinces 3 and 7, respectively.