KATHMANDU, May 20: Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Jhala Nath Khanal, on Wednesday came under fire within the party for his remarks against Nepali Congress (NC) and other political parties.
Most of the central committee members who spoke in the CC meeting on Wednesday accused Khanal of giving pro-Maoist statement while undermining the role of other political parties including the NC, which proposed UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal to head a new government and made serious efforts to garner support in his favor. About 10 CC members including Pradip Gyawali, Raghu Pant, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal and Khaga Raj Adhikari spoke in the meeting, said a central leader of the party. [break]
Khanal on Tuesday had argued that by giving support to the CPN-UML to head the new government, some "rightist parties" were trying to widen rift among the leftist parties. Without taking name of any political party, he had clearly indicated that NC and other political parties were involved in widenigng the difference among the communists.
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Khanal has been consistently arguing that any majority government to be formed by sidelining the Maoists would not be able to formulate the new constitution and take the peace process tot a logical end. The UML CC members termed such a statement "a wrong perception about their own party by the UML leadership".
"After a comprehensive discussion and a broader exercise among the political parties, we have succeeded to form a an alliance under the UML´s leadership and it has taken a concrete political course," the UML leader said. "Giving statement against such an achievement from within the party is unfortunate."
He said such a statement will damage the image of the party and the chairman himself. "Therefore, we suggested the leaders not to make such remarks in public."
The UML members urged the party leadership to give statements that help give stability to the UML-led alliance instead of undermining it.
"Khanal undermined the importance of the political parties, who have backed the UML-led alliance, and has been advocating that Maoists´ participation in the new government is unavoidable but the Maoist leaders themselves had proposed NC president Girija Prasad Koirala to lead the government," another member explained. "So, the chairman´s strategy has failed to strengthen the party´s interest."
Khanal, however, did not react.
