KATHMANDU, May 31: The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has given full shape to its standing committee amid reservation from some senior party leaders. The 45-member standing committee got full shape with the appointment of 16 leaders from the erstwhile CPN (Maoist Center). 

Besides NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Ram Bahadur Thapa, who are in the NCP’s nine-member central secretariat, erstwhile Maoist Center leaders Dev Gurung, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Girirajmani Pokharel, Haribol Gajurel, Agni Sapkota, Barshaman Pun, Shakti Basnet, Janardan Sharma, Pampha Bhusal, Matrika Yadav, Ganesh Sah, Lekhraj Bhatta, Devandra Poudel, Chakrapani Khanal, Lilamani Pokharel and Mani Thapa have been inducted in the standing committee. 

The former UML had already appointed KP Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam, Ishwar Pokharel, Bishnu Paudel, Subas Nembang, Bhim Rawal, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Yuwaraj Gyawali, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Pradeep Gyawali, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Bhim Acharya, Gokarna Bista, Yogesh Bhattarai, Shankar Pokharel, Surendra Pandey, Kiran Gurung, Mukunda Neupane, Satyanarayan Mandal, Chabbilal Bishwakarma, Bishnu Rimal, Raghuji Pant, Beduram Bhusal and Raghubhir Mahaseth in the party’s powerful committee. 

Except for Pant, Rimal, Bhusal and Mahaseth, all leaders now in the standing committee were in the standing committee of the erstwhile UML. 

The appointment has only intensified the growing discontent in both factions of the party. Amrit Bohara of the erstwhile UML and Amik Sherchan of the erstwhile Maoist Center have openly expressed their dissatisfaction after they were not included in the NCP standing committee. Both Bohara and Sherchan, who were the heads of the disciplinary committees of their respective parties, have been named among four invitee members of the standing committee. 

Bohara and Sherchan are the latest additions to a long list of leaders unhappy over the roles given to them following the merger.

A faction close to former prime minister Jhalanath Khanal has long accused the party leadership of using the merger to sideline them. Similarly, more than 200 leaders including 45 politburo members of the erstwhile Maoist Center have been protesting against the party’s picks for key portfolios and committees. 

 
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