‘Consequences if Dahal fails to make amends’

KATHMANDU, JAN 03 -

In his first public comment since the factional feud gripped the party after the CA election, UCPN (Maoist) senior leader Baburam Bhattarai warned of serious consequences if Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal continues with his “undemocratic working style”.

In a question-and-answer session with a select group of journalists at his residence in Sanepa, Lalitpur on Thursday, Bhattarai said Dahal, as a supreme leader of the party, should take “a greater share of responsibility” for the party’s debacle in the November 19 election, correct the past mistakes, including the recent ‘unilateral’ selection of party’s lawmakers under PR category and ensure a ‘democratic culture’ within the party.

Pressed repeatedly whether he was considering to form a breakaway party, Bhattarai would not be drawn into the question merely saying that he wanted to transform both the leadership and the party. 

“Party leaders should take the moral responsibility of the party’s unexpected defeat in the election as per their hierarchy and it is obvious that the chairman should take a greater share of the responsibility for the election debacle,” Bhattarai said, adding that taking responsibility could be possible in different ways, including through self-criticism.

The relations between Dahal and the leaders duo—Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha—has soured following Dahal’s submission of the party’s PR list to the Election Commission on Monday. Both Bhattarai and Shrestha had walked out of the meeting that was called by Dahal to select the PR candidates. The duo have accused Dahal of exercising monopoly in awarding PR seats, which the chairman refutes.

On Wednesday, Bhattarai and Shrestha submitted a protest letter to Dahal expressing displeasure over the selection of the PR candidates. Receiving the protest letter, Dahal had assured the two leaders of holding a meeting with them on Thursday to review the PR list and sort out the differences. But Dahal did not call any meeting, Bhattarai said.

The parties had to submit a corrected PR list by Thursday evening—the deadline set by the Election Commission. “It is very sad that the chairman failed to correct his mistakes. This has made us serious and we will chalk out a future course after discussions inside the party,” said Bhattarai, who will be presenting his views in the Central Committee (CC) meeting next week to review the party’s past mistakes and draw a future political course.

Bhattarai, who had been saying that there is no alternative to Dahal’s leadership in the party, appeared a little different in the meeting with journalists on Thursday. He said the question of leadership comes only after preparing a method to make the party more democratic and making changes to the party’s organisational structure. 

The Dahal faction has, however, maintained that Bhattarai and Shrestha should face the party’s CC next week. A leader close to Dahal said the senior leaders have the right to table their dissatisfaction in the party’s official meeting. “Baburamji is raising the issue of democratic culture and process inside the party. We are ready to put up the contentious issues for voting in the party’s upcoming CC meet,” he said.