The meeting saw heated factional disputes when Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal proposed that the party nominate incumbent Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications for the post of home minister.[break]
The proposal raised the hackles of party hardliners led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, who had all along pushed Dev Gurung´s name for the post.
“We had already reached an agreement to give the post of home minister to Gurung, though we don´t have that agreement in writing. We cannot accept the chairman´s proposal,” said a Maoist leader close to Baidya.
Sources say Dahal had reckoned the Baidya faction would not seriously oppose the nomination of Mahara, who has always pushed for unity between Dahal and Baidya against Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
Mahara was an aide to Baidya for quite a long time but he defected to the Dahal faction at the Paluntar plenum.
Dahal could not impose his decision at Thursday´s meeting as the Bhattarai faction also threw its weight behind Baidya´s stance.
The party will hold a meeting on Friday also to seek an agreement.
“We will continue discussions tomorrow on the allocation of ministerial portfolios,” said Maoist Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma after the meeting that lasted five hours.
Sharma said the party would finalize the names of seven cabinet ministers and 11 state ministers on Friday.
According to sources, the party has prepared a tentative list of probable candidates for ministers. According to a Standing Committee source, the probable names include Ram Charan Chaudhary, Agni Sapkota, Lokendra Bista, Dinanath Sharma, Shakti Basnet, Bishwonath Sah, Jay Puri Gharti, Dev Gurung and Prabhu Sah.
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