Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal then held an informal meeting with other top leaders at his residence at Nayabazaar. [break]
Gajurel and Thapa have recently been launching lacerating criticism against the party establishment for signing the so-called four-point deal with the Madhes-based parties and for the decision to hand over keys of the weapons containers to the Special Committee and return the seized properties to their rightful owners.
After Thapa and Gajurel did not turn up at the venue, Dahal´s son Prakash quickly updated his Facebook status: “Badal [Thapa] and Gajurel absent at the meeting.”
Party Vice-chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Narayankaji Shrestha conceded that the party top leaders had held an informal meeting as Thapa and Gajurel could not attend the meeting due to busy schedule.
“We held an informal meeting to discuss ways to manage the dissent within the party until the party holds its central committee (CC) meeting. We must formulate certain procedures for expressing the dissent,” Shrestha said.
Responding to Republica, Gajurel said that he was currently in Chitwan and did not know anything about the meeting in Kathmandu.
Party insiders say the party establishment faction is deferring the CC meeting to avoid the wrath of the party hardliners and take decisions through a meeting of the top office bearers. But the hardliners have become more and more critical in public about the party establishment for deferring the meeting. They are also launching “exposure drive” against the establishment throughout the country.
Chairman Dahal postponed the CC meeting until further notice for the second time on Wednesday, citing the festival of Dashain.
Shrestha said that the opposition against peace process from within a party would not affect the peace process and constitution drafting. “We would move ahead with the peace and constitution drafting process.
The contradiction between the hardliners and moderates within the Maoist party has sharpened recently, especially after the new government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai was formed.
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