One of the committee members Amrit Bohara, however, registered a note of dissent over the decision to elevate Oli to the higher position without first “setting policies and criteria” to establish the hierarchy of party leaders. [break]
“Giving a higher position to a particular leader without formulating clear policies and criteria for doing so will create a problem in future,” a participant quoted Bohara as saying at the meeting. “This should be an agenda for discussion in the politburo and central committee meeting as well.”
Chairman Khanal proposed to give Oli the third position in the party in a bid to patch up relation between the faction led by him and Oli. After losing the election for party chairman to Khanal nearly three years ago, Oli has been leading a rival faction in the party. While former party chief Madhav Kumar Nepal was given the second position, Oli was in the tenth place after Khanal, Nepal, three vice-chairpersons, general secretary and three secretaries.
Leaders said Bohara’s dissenting opinion came “because he also thinks himself to be one of the few senior most leaders in the party.”
Admitting that the intra-party feuds have weakened the party, Khanal has committed himself to end the deepening factionalism in the party.
“Various sister wings and other organizations in the party have been badly affected due to intra-party contradictions in central as well as local committees,” the chairman said in his 11-point proposal while underscoring the need for rejuvenating the feeling of party unity.
Khanal has proposed to form a taskforce at the central level to settle the intra-party feuds. “The taskforce will solve the contradictions within a certain timeframe,” read the proposal.
End of panel system
Stating that the panel-wise election system has weakened the intra-party unity, the proposal has sought to end panel system in the party elections. “We are committed to end the practice of panel-wise election and instead encourage filing of candidacy at individual level and casting of votes independently,” it said. The proposal has been endorsed unanimously, though Oli had, at an earlier meeting, stressed on not ending the democratic practice in the name of ending panel-wise system.
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