The very first meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre), a union of various Maoist forces who have come together, on Monday witnessed a dispute, following which Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal decided to keep the leadership centralised with a small team of office bearers. 

Dahal has formed a nine-member “headquarters” that would command the party till the general convention.  

Dahal was initially planning to fill key leadership positions by creating a bloated team of office bearers. He had also prepared a list with at least five vice-chairmen, one general secretary, two assistant general secretaries, three secretaries and one treasurer. 

But Dahal dropped the plan on Monday after sensing deep discontent among his close aides, including Barshaman Pun, Janardan Sharma and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, who have been vying for senior positions. 

“The decision was taken after the leadership dispute could not be settled. There has been an agreement that key posts will be filled gradually,” said a leader. 

Ram Bahadur Thapa, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Dev Gurung, Matrika Yadav, Mani Thapa, Tilak Pariyar and Jaypuri Gharti Magar have been included in the “headquarters”. 

Dahal, Shrestha, Mahara are from the UCPN (Maoist) and Thapa and Gurung are from the CPN-Maoist. 

Leaders said that there has been an agreement to set up a 151-member politburo. 

According to them, all the parties that have come together to form the CPN (Maoist Centre), would have proportional representation in the politburo based on their size before they merged with the CPN (Maoist). 

“Leaders who were in the central committee in our party would retain their earlier positions in the new party,” said a leader who was earlier with the CPN-Maoist. “There has also been an understanding that politburo members would be nominated based on the size of their parties,” he added. 

Presenting a written document on Monday, Dahal proposed to hold district-level conventions within a month. 

Chairman Dahal on Monday also directed party leaders to go to the districts for the conventions. The party is the third largest force in Parliament.