The party, in a statement, on Sunday issued the instructions after a group of leaders including Gautam submitted a memorandum to party chairman Jhala Nath Khanal demanding Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s resignation from the government. [break]
It has also said that most of the members that Gautam had claimed support his campaign have denied doing so.
A group of leaders close to Gautam, on Saturday emailed the memorandum to Khanal and later made it public. They claimed that 60 party members, including parliamentarians and central committee members, back the proposal for prime minister´s resignation.
But later party head office claimed that over 20 of those whose named appeared in the memorandum as supporters of the proposal said they do not support such proposal and objected to the mention of their names.
"Sahana Pradhan and most of the comrades have made it clear that they don´t agree with the content of the so-called memorandum and the process," the statement issued by party secretary Yuvraj Gyawali said.
But Gautam condemned the leadership and accused the head office of presenting him in bad light. "All the 59 members were wholeheartedly ready to press the chairman to play an intervening role so as to stop the country´s situation from heading toward confrontation and civil war," he told Republica. He claimed, may be some of the members were afraid of possible disciplinary action by the party.
He also expressed his unhappiness at Khanal´s handling of the issue. "Party chairman launched propaganda against us instead talking to us. I condemn it," he said.
CC member Ganga Lal Tuladhar said that over 20 of the members whose names were given in the list called the party office and leaders and informed that they were not involved in any signature campaign.
Tuladhar said the head office had already drawn the attention of the party´s disciplinary commission on the matter as Gautam has regularly been demanding Nepal´s resignation.
Gautam was deputy prime minister and home minister during the Maoist-headed government.
Taking Gautam´s statements very seriously, the commission recently held some rounds of meetings to discuss the matter.
"We have taken it very seriously. We will hold another meeting and take up the matter soon," Amrit Bohara, chief of the commission told Republica.
Earlier, party chairman Khanal debunked the memorandum saying that holds no meaning. "It was not even submitted through a due process. I received it through email. Though I respect their concerns the memorandum holds no meaning in the party," Khanal told reporters.
There are some eight central committee members and a dozen of parliamentarians in the list of 60 members. However, their signature is not on the memorandum. Kiran Gurung, one of the members who led the campaign, claimed that due to disruption in the vehicular movement on Saturday they couldn´t collect the members´ signatures.
Gautam said he will stand firm on his demand.
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