CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who has been leading the party for over three-and-a-half decades, has yet again pacified the leaders who want him to hand over the leadership.

Janardan Sharma and Barsha Man Pun—deputy general secretaries of the Maoist party—had demanded that Dahal hand over the party leadership to a leader of their generation. The two leaders raised the issue during the standing committee meeting that commenced on August 9.

Leaders concluded the meeting on Thursday as they decided to strengthen the Maoist party through internal dialogue between the leaders on their disagreements.

Party secretary Ram Karki said that responding to the questions raised during the standing committee meeting on August 10, party chair Dahal vowed to address their issues.

The party will resolve the theoretical as well as ideological differences among the party leaders through dialogue, Karki told the Post, quoting Dahal.

On August 9, the first day of the meeting, the Maoist chair presented a verbal proposal on current political affairs, party building, and other pertinent issues.

After Dahal’s presentation, some leaders raised questions about the party’s policies and leadership. Among them, Janardan Sharma, a deputy general secretary, submitted a written proposal on August 10, calling for a review of Dahal’s leadership and suggesting that the party chair be limited to a ceremonial role as patron.

In his document, Sharma alleged, among other things, that the party leadership was trying to use state power against him.

In the 14-page document submitted to the meeting, Sharma accused the party leadership of ‘spreading disinformation’ about him and the other deputy general secretary, Pun. He also accused the top leaders of even misusing state power against him.

“The fake information about the party split, which was generated from Khumaltar [the private residence of Dahal], spread widely after reaching Baluwatar [the prime minister’s official residence where Dahal was staying until last month when the government changed],” Sharma questions the party leadership in his document. “There are questions: why did the leadership disseminate fake information?”

However, Maoist Centre leaders said the issue has been settled, for now, after Dahal pledged to resolve it through intra-party discussions.

Party chair Dahal, while speaking to the press briefly after the conclusion of the standing committee meeting on Thursday, said the reports and rumours about party split were baseless.

“Rumours related to the party split led by comrade Prabhakar [Janardan Sharma] are baseless,” Dahal told journalists.

The meeting also decided to hold consultative meetings at the provincial level, where the party's office bearers will also participate. After the meeting, the party will call for a full-fledged meeting of the central committee in mid-September (Ashoj first week).

Another party secretary, Devendra Paudel, said the upcoming central committee meeting will call the party's special general convention, as decided during the eigth general convention held in 2022.

But Lilamani Pokharel, a party secretary, says no decision was taken with regard to convening a special general convention as only the central committee has a mandate to call a special general convention, the supreme body of a party that can take final decisions on the party’s policies and leadership.

“The party will go for a special general convention only if a central committee meeting decides to go for that,” Pokharel told the Post.

After the party was out of the government in mid-July, calls for Dahal to relinquish the top position have grown.

Haribol Gajurel, a close aide of Dahal and deputy general secretary, also raised the issue of leadership change during a meeting of party officials before the standing committee meeting and demanded a special congress to address the issues.

Gajurel proposed that all office-bearers should resign and make a fresh start to rejuvenate the party. He even submitted his own resignation as a starting point. Following this, on the second day of the standing committee meeting held on August 10, Deputy General Secretary Sharma questioned the central leadership in his political paper.

However, party spokesperson Agni Sapkota, who is close to Dahal, argued that the questions raised by Sharma were aimed at strengthening the party.

“The issue I raised during the standing committee meeting was for the betterment of the party and to strengthen the leadership of Dahal,” Sapkota quoted Sharma as saying.

“The party leadership has also taken the issue raised by the standing committee members, including deputy general secretary Gajurel, Sharma, and Barshaman Pun, on a positive note.”

During Dahal's tenure as prime minister, Gajurel, his political adviser, had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the party's lack of adherence to procedures and methods. As questions arose about the central leadership of the Maoist Centre, which is focused on organisational development, Dahal found himself in a defensive position during the standing committee meeting.

According to party insiders, it was after a long time that Dahal faced tremendous pressure during a standing committee meeting as both Sharma and Pun, who have strong command in the party organisation, stood together to demand Dahal’s exit from the party leadership.

It was something unusual for Maoist leaders as the two leaders, who defended Dahal in the past, joined hands by closing their ranks to fiercely criticise the party chief. Sharma and Pun, both former finance ministers, are deemed the two most powerful leaders after Dahal.

Both leaders claimed the position of general secretary at the party’s general convention in early 2022. Though they were willing to contest for the post, Dahal instead chose Dev Gurung as the general secretary.

After the general convention, Sharma has been maintaining a distance from Dahal and he challenges the party chief on various occasions. Of late, Pun, too, has joined Sharma to challenge Dahal.

At the standing committee meeting, Pun said there should be a debate on the party's chairperson's term limit. "Instead of discussing whether the leader should step down now, we need to determine the chair’s term limit," he added.

Leaders said Dahal faced a pressure of this scale in a party meeting probably for the first time in nearly a decade, since the exit of key leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya. Bhattarai and Baidya lead their own parties now.