Dahal under fire at politburo meeting

KATHMANDU, June 19: More than half of the politburo members have demanded that the Maoist party bring forward another Maoist leader other than chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the party´s prime ministerial candidate if that leads to the formation of a national consensus government.



On Saturday, a few leaders also demanded that the party hold its general convention to resolve the current ideological dilemma and intra-party contradictions, while criticizing the top leadership for the way it handled the party in the last one year. [break]



“Without holding general conventions, revolutions cannot be taken forward. It is an integral part of communist parties worldwide to resolve intra-party contradictions and chart out the course of class struggle,” a leader quoted politburo member Ram Karki as saying in the meeting.



In his political proposal, Dahal has stated the party can hold a plenum or a national conclave instead of general convention slated for next February. Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, vice chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai had also demanded that the party hold its general convention as per the schedule.



Karki also stated that the party should lead a consensus government by opening the options for the party´s candidate for premiership. “It would be a betrayal to the people to let the country have a majority government even after pledging to form a consensus government before extending the Constituent Assembly (CA) term,” Karki said in the meeting.



Dahal has proposed that the party would be better off staying in the opposition as the chances of forming a Maoist-led national consensus government are getting slimmer by the day.



According to sources, leaders including Janardan Sharma, Devendra Poudel and Karki criticized Dahal for “double-speaking”, “tarnishing” the party´s image and leading the party to nowhere in the last one year.



Supporting Dr Bhattarai, Poudel and Sharma argued that the party should take moves to lead the national government. “We should not quit the party-line of framing a progressive constitution through the fronts of parliament, the street and the government,” sources quoted Poudel as saying.



On Saturday, Hitraj Pandey and Kul Prasad KC spoke in favor of Dahal and said the party should stay in opposition, while Hari Bhakta Kandel supported senior vice chairman Mohan Baidya who has argued that the government should rather prepare for a “revolt”. Similarly, Gopal Kirati and Bishwa Bhakta Dulal had expressed “mixed opinions”.



Of the 46 politburo members, 34 have so far put forward their views at the ongoing meeting. The meeting will continue Sunday.

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