KATHMANDU, Feb 4: The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has reiterated party co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal's stand on the ongoing Venezuelan crisis.

A meeting of the NCP's party secretariat held at Dhumbarahi-based headquarters on Monday concluded that there should be not any foreign intervention on the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.

"Our party views that there should be not any foreign intervention on the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela. Unlike reported in media, there is a common position between chairman duo Pushpa Kamal Dahal and KP Sharma Oli on the issue," party spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha told Republica Online following the meeting.

In his statement earlier last week, Dahal had termed the moves of “US and its allies” an “unacceptable intrusion in internal affairs and an attempt of imperialist coup”, while opposing “the act of anti-people and imperialist forces intruding Venezuela”.

Angered by such “strong-worded statement”, the US had sought clarifications from the top leaders of the ruling parties if the statement reflected the position of the government and also inquired about this with Nepal's ambassador to Washington DC Arjun Karki at the Department of State.

As the US sought Nepal's official position on the Venezuelan crisis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stressing on the need for resolving the political crisis in Venezuela without “external interference" echoing Dahal's statement.

While the ruling NCP stands in support of the leader of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, the main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), has denounced Dahal and the government's statements, throwing its weight behind the US and its allies.

Intra-party taskforce to submit progress report tomorrow

Meanwhile, the party secretariat meeting has asked the intra-party taskforce to submit the progress report over the party's unification of lower committees and sister wings by Tuesday, according to spokesperson Shrestha.

The meeting took place at a time when the NCP's intra-party taskforce led by General Secretary Bishnu Poudel failed to make clear roadmap over the unification of lower committees and other issues raised in the party within January 14.

It is learnt that the task force has yet come up with the roadmap with its members failing to forge consensus on the allocation of responsibilities in the party and accommodating the dissenting views surfaced in the party.

The Poudel-led task force includes Ram Bahadur Thapa, Shankar Pokharel, Barshaman Pun, Yogesh Bhattarai, Surendra Pandey, Beduram Bhusal and Lekhraj Bhatta as members. Disputes have resurfaced in the party over whether to enforce the 'one person, one position' policy in the party rank and file.

A section of leaders including Bam Dev Gautam had floated the proposal of enforcing the 'one person, one position' policy in the party for what they said to be effective mobilization of party organization. But some task force members including coordinator Poudel are opposing the idea, according to informed sources.

Party leaders, who were upbeat following the issue-focused discussion in the party meeting, are disappointed with the delay in resolving the internal issues and expediting the party unification process of the lower committees.

Prime Minister and NCP Chairman Oli's opponents in the party want to remove Oli and his lieutenants mainly Shankar Pokharel and Prithvi Subba Gurung from double responsibilities contrary to the party establishment's position to give them dual responsibilities. Pokharel, who has been working as the chief minister of Province 5, also holds the responsibility of the party's provincial in-charge. Like Pokharel, Gurung is also the chief minister of Province 4 and the party's in-charge in the province.

Due to differences among the top leaders, the unification process of the party that was formed by merging the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) has been largely affected. Although the parties merged into one in May last year, the unification between the district and local level committees of the two parties is yet to be completed.

 
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