CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and his CPN (Maoist Center) counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal are having a one-on-one meeting about party unification and government formation Monday. The meeting being held at an undisclosed location in Lalitpur will focus on leadership of the unified party, according to a UML source.
Maoist Center has proposed that a single person should not lead both the unified party and the government, and claimed that Dahal should get to lead the party if Oli becomes prime minister (PM). But UML does not seem prepared to hand over the reins of the party to Dahal yet. UML has proposed that Oli should be PM and there should be two co-chairmen to lead the party.
The coordination committee for unification may meet on Tuesday for additional discussion if the two leaders reach some sort of agreement today.
The differing stance on leadership has not just slowed the unification process but has even created doubts about unification altogether in recent days. UML leaders have taken Dahal's remark in Chitwan that he can take a new leap if necessary as a threat to abandon unification process.
