KATHMANDU, Jan 15: An intra-party task force formed by the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to resolve the disputes surfaced in the party and take forward the stalled unification process has failed to accomplish the given task within the given deadline.

The task force led by Bishnu Poudel was mandated to come up with a roadmap to complete the unification of lower committees and other issues raised in the party within January 14. But the task force has not 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. “Neither they resolved the differences nor did they discuss the issue seriously in recent two weeks,” said party's Standing Committee member Ghanshyam Bhusal, adding, “Going by their activities, it seems the task force was formed just to silence the dissenting voices and just lingering the unification process.”

Prime Minister and NCP Chairman KP 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.a

 
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