CHANGED EQUATION: PM says Dahal wavering in his support to govt
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KATHMANDU, JAN 26 -
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has said party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been wavering in his support to the government following his alliance with the hardline faction. The Bhattarai camp believes that Dahal is also ‘plotting’ the overthrow of the government.
In a recent meeting with his supporters at Baluwatar, Bhattarai said that after the party’s Central Committee (CC) meeting that concluded on January 15, Dahal has stopped supporting his government. The CC meet had brought Dahal and Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, who were at loggerheads for long, closer.
“After intensifying interactions and meetings with the Baidya faction, he [Dahal] has started objecting to the government’s decisions instead of defending them,” said a source close to the PM. A Bhattarai loyal said Dahal is maintaining double standards on some crucial decisions of the government. To appease the Maoist hardliners and the opposition parties, the leader said, Dahal seems weak-kneed on issues like BIPAA, decision on war-era property transactions, combatants’ farewell plan and fuel price hike.
“We are not getting complete support from the chairman in some issues, although he played a leading role in forming this government,” PM’s Political Advisor Devendra Poudel said.
Dahal instructed the party’s student wing and the Young Communist League to take to the streets against price hike to put the government in a difficult position, said a leader. Another leader said Dahal had agreed to hike the prices of the petroleum products but failed to defend the government’s decision. Different wings of the Maoist party have joined hands with the opposition parties to protest the government’s decision to hike the fuel prices.
Similarly, Dahal has piled pressure on the PM for scrapping the Cabinet’s decision to legalise land transactions made through the Maoist-run parallel government during the insurgency.
A source close to the PM said Dahal is pressuring him through informal channels and opposition parties to withdraw the decision.
“PM Bhattarai has reportedly expressed his dissatisfaction over Dahal’s double standard,” said a source. “Dahal himself had urged Bhattarai to take the decision and he has backtracked from his position now.”
On BIPAA, Dahal has stated that the PM did not communicate with him well before signing the deal with India.
Bhattarai supporters blame Dahal for encouraging the Opposition to seek an alternative to this government and proposing a new national consensus government.
“Chairman (Dahal) wants to undermine Bhattarai by toppling his government,” CC member Khagaraj Bhatta, close to the PM, said.
As relations between Dahal and Baidya improve, Bhattarai is feeling increasingly insecure. He has intensified meetings with his supporters at his official residence. The PM has called a meeting of his faction on Thursday to prepare a strategy.
Posted on: 2012-01-26 08:39
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