Internal strife is not unusual in political parties, and the CPN (Maoist Centre) is no exception. However, the party’s standing committee meeting, which started on August 9 in Kathmandu, saw a notable twist. Party office bearers have demanded that the party leadership make way for the new generation.

“I have been attending party meetings for a long time, but never before have leaders openly pushed for a change in leadership,” a leader present in the meeting told the Post requesting anonymity.

On the first day of the meeting, Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a verbal proposal on the current political affairs, party development and other pertinent issues.

After Dahal’s speech, many leaders questioned the party’s policies and leadership. Among them, Janardan Sharma, a deputy general secretary of the party, submitted a written proposal on August 10, calling for a review of Dahal’s leadership and suggesting that the party chair be demoted to a ceremonial role as patron.

Likewise, Barshaman Pun, another deputy general secretary of the party, called for setting a clear deadline before the transition to new leadership.

“No one should stay as party chief forever, now let’s set a term limit for the next leadership,” the standing committee member told the Post, quoting Pun.

The leader also told the Post that in the past, when Babaram Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya were part of the party leadership and had disagreements, they never asked Dahal to step down. However, this time Deputy General Secretary Sharma has openly asked Dahal to do so.

“We can sense that Dahal is under pressure, as party leaders are openly challenging his leadership,” another Maoist Centre standing committee member, who is also the Bagmati provincial assembly member, told the Post.

Party spokesman Agni Sapkota denies any such pressure on the leadership. “It is true that the ongoing standing committee meeting is discussing new leadership, but there is no internal strife,” he told the Post.

Maoist Centre chair Dahal has long been navigating internal conflicts, manoeuvring between them to bolster his position. Earlier, when Bhattarai and Baidya were in the party, Dahal used to play one against the other to maintain control.

“This time, with deputy general secretaries Sharma and Pun, two of the strongest figures, openly challenging him, Dahal is in trouble,” another Maoist Centre leader told the Post.

Sharma leads the Maoist Centre’s Rukum district organisation and Pun heads Rolpa. These two district organisations are among the strongest in the party. In the past, Dahal always used Rukum and Rolpa against each other whenever he was in trouble, but now that they have united, his old tactics will be ineffective, the leader added.

With all the party leaders under scrutiny, the leadership itself is also being questioned, says Yubraj Chaulagain, a leader of the party.

“However, the issues raised will be addressed by the leadership, as our party is mature enough to handle internal disputes and their potential outcomes,” Chaulagain told the Post.

There are some problems in the party, but they are manageable, says Ram Karki, a standing committee member of the party.

“These proposals [of the two deputy general secretaries] have gained some traction among standing committee members, but they alone won’t be enough to change the party leadership,” Karki told the Post.

There are some theoretical ambiguities in communist parties on leadership transfer, Karki said. “Communist parties have traditionally practised person-centric leadership under the pretext of strengthening it,” Karki said. “This only brings more difficulties.”

“Internal discussions in the Maoist Centre got a lot of hype this time, particularly because the leaders who previously refrained from criticising the leadership are now openly doing so. But for those of us in the party, this is nothing new,” Karki said.

Many leaders at the standing committee meeting criticised the party’s weaknesses and Dahal’s leadership. They argued that current party policies are failing to garner public support and called for a change, according to the standing committee leader.

However, not all of those speaking at the meeting were critical of Dahal. Those supporting him did not acknowledge any flaws in the current party policies or in Dahal’s leadership.

Party Secretary Ganesh Shah says party leadership is not in as much trouble as the media suggests. He explained that individual leaders have their own styles of expression. “Some leaders may have appeared stern in the meeting, but there are no issues,” claims Shah.

“In the Maoist Centre, there is a tendency to publicly criticise the leadership by day and resolve issues behind closed doors by night. I don’t expect things to be any different this time,” Shah told the Post.

Based on discussions within the party, Karki suggests that while there has been some speculation about a potential split, the likelihood is low.

“If a split were imminent, the discussions would be focused on ideological and political issues, but that is not the case now.”

After the party was removed from government on July 12, the Maoist Centre has been focussed on strengthening the party. It has also vowed to contest the next general elections on its own strength, without forging any electoral alliances.

The Maoist Centre standing committee meeting started on August 9 and will continue until August 14. As of Monday, 32 out of 44 standing committee members have spoken.