Maoist leaders close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal have rejected the statement by Bhattarai that he met Saran with the party´s approval and that Dahal also met Saran separately, but those close to Bhattarai have termed the party establishment faction´s allegation the latest attempt at character assassination against Bhattarai. [break]
“We want him to clarify his public statements and views at the upcoming CC meeting,” said Maoist leader Shakti Basnet, who is close to Dahal, while responding to Bhattarai´s interview to the Nagarik daily published on Tuesday. He said party leaders would give prominence to the issue at the CC meeting. “You should not speak falsehood in public to cover up what you have done,” added Basnet.
Leaders close to Bhattarai, however, said that they would give a fitting reply at the CC meeting if the Dahal camp raised the issue. “We will rather raise a question over the act of slandering Bhattarai with false accusations in the media,” said Maoist leader Devendra Poudel, who is close to Bhattarai. “But we will first hear what they have to say at the meeting,” he said.
In the interview, Bhattarai stated that he met Saran with the party´s approval and Dahal also talked to Saran separately. Responding to party leader Barsaman Pun´s public statement calling for clarifications from him for meeting Saran separately, Bhattarai dubbed Pun´s views “infant child disorder”.
The two factions will also dispute over the next strategic move of the Maoist party. The Bhattarai faction will demand that the party chairman stop contesting the prime ministerial race as he has already been defeated four times, and instead seek a political consensus, keeping all options open. “He should either win the election or open options for a consensus. He cannot go on losing elections forever as that will tarnish the party´s image,” said Poudel.
But the Dahal faction is not in favor of letting Bhattarai lead the government even if that would lead to a consensus government. “The meeting will rather take important decisions on how to win the prime ministerial election on August 18. We will not go for any options at this juncture,” said Basnet.
The meeting will also see other accusations and counter-accusations fly between the two factions.
Leaders close to Dahal have accused Bhattarai and those close to him of “publicly speaking against party decisions over the PM election” and not helping the party´s prime ministerial candidate, while the latter have alleged that the “party establishment used money to buy votes in the PM election and tarnished the party´s image”.
The end result of the meeting will depend on the stance of Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya. Bhattarai is close to Baidya in matters concerning making the party systematic and running it transparently, but Baidya is close to Dahal ideologically. Baidya has so far not said much about current intra-party contradictions. Baidya, who leads a hard-line faction, disagrees with Dahal and Bhattarai over the party´s current course for achieving communist goals.
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