A meeting of Maoist party top brass Thursday reached this conclusion, stating that a conspiracy is afoot in various quarters to split the party, pitting one leader against another. [break]
“We have just reaffirmed the old stance. The standing committee meeting Friday will formally deliberate this,” said Maoist secretary CP Gajurel.
But leaders supporting Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai said the top brass don´t have the mandate to decide on the party´s prime ministerial candidate.
There is intra-party rivalry between Dahal and Bhattarai over heading a national consensus government.
On May 11, after the general strike fiasco, the Maoist party standing committee decided to be open about a party leader other than Dahal becoming prime minister if other parties agree to a national consensus government. Dahal also publicly stated that his party was ready to accept any party or leader to head such a government.
“The top office bearers cannot override the earlier decision,” said a top leader close to Bhattarai, adding, “Such flip-flops only send out negative messages about the party.”
He said they would raise the issue vociferously during the party politburo meeting slated for Monday. They would demand that the party either abandon its guiding policies to move ahead on the front of the streets, parliament and government or keep open the option of government leadership from within the party.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress (NC) has stated that the Maoist decision manifests the party´s ´unstable thinking´.
NC spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC said, “The decision reflects how unstable their thinking is,” adding that the decision to stick to Dahal alone as prime ministerial candidate turns the formation of a consensus government into a distant dream.
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