Top Stories»
UML patches up internal conflict
KATHMANDU, DEC 30 - In an attempt to patch up the longstanding conflict between the party leadership and the dissident group led by K. P. Oli in the CPN-UML, the standing committee meeting has nominated nine members, believed to be Oli loyalists, to the party central committee.
A high-level source in the UML told The Kathmandu Post that the nomination of the nine members would settle the longstanding dissatisfaction in the UML forever.
Oli confirmed the nomination of nine members but refused to make any comments.
Among the newly nominated members are Bachaspati Devkota, Guru Baral, Dev Raj Ghimire, Raghubir Mahaseth, Prithvi Subba Gurung and Ranadhwoj Kandangwa. They have been nominated as full central committee members whereas Lal Bahu Pandit, Bhanubhakta Jaishi and Ram Nath Dhakal as the alternative members.
Devkota, Baral, Ghimire, Mahaseth, Gurung and Kandangwa were all members in the previous central committee, who lost their bid to the central committee in the seventh party general convention held in Janakpur last February.
The fourth central committee meeting of the UML had handed its authority over to the party standing committee to nominate the eight members to fill the vacant slots.
"As per the decision of the central committee meeting, the standing committee nominated the members to appease Oli and his coterie," the source said. However, a powerful member of the central committee expressed his reservation over the standing committee’s decision.
He said that the party should not have nominated the people rejected by the general convention. "This will set a bad trend in the party. Whoever will be in minority will be encouraged to create pressure in the party to get his men nominated to the central committee," he said. He further informed that Radhakrishna Mainali’s deadline to submit a written clarification to the party on his controversial remarks is expiring on December 31.
"If Mainali fails to submit his clarification, he will be dismissed from the party," he said.
The UML has called the central committee meeting on January 6, which will take the final decision regarding this matter. "The party has called its meeting on a date when Mainali’s deadline to submit clarification will have expired and it will be convenient to dismiss him," the member said.
He also claimed that Mainali’s name has already been listed in the prospective cabinet expansion. However, Mainali refuted such remarks as baseless. "The Surya Bahadur Thapa government is not going to settle the current political stalemate. So there is no question of my joining this government," Mainali said. "My whole career in politics is not for a chair."
Asked whether he would submit a written explanation to the party within December 31, he said that he was not aware of it. "The party informed me that I have been suspended for six months but, it never sought a written clarification," Mainali said.
Oli informed that the party has not taken any decision whether or not to dismiss Mainali from the party.
"Some people maybe taking this as an opportunity to settle personal scores," Oli said. With the nomination of the nine members, there are 61 full and 15 alternative central committee members in the UML.
Headlines
Advertisements
