The internal feud between Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Deputy General Secretary Janardan Sharma dominated the party’s Standing Committee that kicked off on Friday.

Dahal and Sharma have for long been publicly criticising each other, and recently the dispute between them has further intensified.

“The way Janardan ji [Sharma] has been airing his views publicly is not good for the party,” said Dahal. “This must stop.”

While making his opening remarks at the party meeting, Dahal expressed dissatisfaction over some of Sharma’s recent statements, and said such activities do not benefit the party. “Not only Janardanji, other leaders also need to stop taking internal matters outside.

Recently, Sharma accused all communist prime ministers, with the exception of Manmohan Adhikari, of extorting money and failing to work for public benefit.

Sharma’s statement irked Dahal, who later responded publicly. Sharma then took to Facebook to criticise the lack of internal democracy in the Maoist party and called for a change in party leadership. Accusations and counter-accusations between Dahal and Sharma have continued since.

“Let us all recognise our individual shortcomings and work to strengthen party unity,” Dahal said during the meeting on Friday. Sharma has consistently raised the issue of internal democracy and challenged the leadership of Dahal, who has been at the helm for over three decades.

Dahal also said that the party has deviated from communist principles and become bourgeois. He also expressed concerns over various interest groups gaining influence in the Maoist party and said they need to be dismantled. Only Dahal spoke at Friday's meeting.

According to Deputy General Secretary Haribol Gajurel, Dahal urged Sharma not to speak publicly, and said that enemies of the Maoist party were benefitting from their internal differences.

At the meeting, Dahal had proposed a 10-point agenda for party building, said Gajurel.

Dahal has proposed resumption of the stalled Mid-Hill Campaign from August-end and holding the central committee meeting after the Dashain festival (in October). “If Janardan ji has any grievances, he can raise them at the central committee meeting,” said Dahal.

“The meeting focussed on party-building. We discussed expanding the party’s base and organisation down to the grassroots,” Gajurel said.

“Our focus would be on strengthening the party, not joining the government. The central committee meeting will fix a new date for the party’s general convention,” Gajurel told the Post quoting Dahal.

Dahal also briefed the meeting on a possible merger with like-minded leftist parties and said unification talks with Madhav Nepal’s CPN (Unified Socialist) were headed in the right direction. “Currently, we are together in the Socialist Front, and there is a consensus that we should move ahead by forming a single party,” he said at the meeting.

“Discussions continue with Madhav ji and Biplavji [Netra Bikram Chand],” Dahal said. “The unification process will move forward soon. It could happen immediately, or it might take some time.”

But there are serious reservations in the Unified Socialist about the proposed merger with the Maoist Centre or other leftist parties. Several senior leaders including former prime minister Jahalanath Khanal are against such a merger.

Moreover, the Maoist Centre itself is not considering a merger with former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai’s Nepal Samajbadi Party. Bhattarai and Dahal were at the helm of the Maoist party during the 10-year long Maoist insurgency, which ended in 2006.

“We are discussing party merger with various Maoist factions,” said party spokesman Agni Sapkota. “However, despite [Bhattarai] being a former Maoist, there are no preparations or discussions for unification with the party he leads.”

Speaking to journalists after the Standing Committee meeting, Sapkota said unification talks with parties within the Socialist Front have been positive.

“We are currently making efforts [to unify] with all parties that branched out from the main Maoist party,” he said in response to a journalist’s query about the party’s readiness for unification with Bhattarai’s outfit. “Dr Baburam Bhattarai joined Naya Shakti (New Force) saying communism is no longer relevant. So we are not talking to him.”