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Dahal says he’s being cornered
- Emerging troika on face-off path
KATHMANDU, JUN 28 -
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday said that he has been hemmed in by his own close colleagues.
Dahal’s statement comes at a time when factionalism in the party is rampant with the triumvirate of senior party leaders Mohan Baidhya, Baburam Bhattarai and Ram Bahadur Thapa disagreeing with Dahal’s “working style”.
“I have been besieged from all sides in course of raising issues of national interest,” said Dahal, speaking at a function in the Capital. “It is a painful situation when those close to you lay siege,” he said referring to news reports the other day that the Baidya, Bhattarai and Thapa troika is gearing up to
defy what they call the “individualistic” and “monopolistic” working style of Dahal.
The three leaders argue that Dahal has clung to power by playing them off against each other, and thereby exploiting their intellect, said a Maoist leader.
Though, Vice chairmen Baidhya and Bhattarai have always stood on conflicting lines, they are coming together to fight what they call Dahal’s “arrogance”. “The new faction wants to strip him of his power. The party has already adopted a multi-post system but Dahal still retains all power,” said a party leader. “The alliance is a marriage of inconvenience.”
This newly polarised group is the one that piled pressure on the party to hold the general convention. According to a Politburo member, at the recent politburo meet, both factions insisted on the general convention but Dahal refused to assent and therefore, there was a mediated solution in holding the extended meeting.
An extended meeting of the party’s central committee in September is expected to settle contentious issues. The disputes include — identification of the principal ‘enemy’, implementation of multi-post system, changing the party’s ideology and working direction, withdrawal of the May movement, curbing the luxurious life of central level leaders, purification of the party and the party’s candidacy for the prime ministerial berth.
Some leaders say India is the principal enemy while others say NC and UML are the barbs where the Indian component is also involved.
Posted on: 2010-06-29 08:25
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