The stuck wheels of organizational unification of ruling CPN have moved forward after truce between Chairman KP Sharma Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) at the lower level has not been possible due the dispute between the Oli and Nepal factions. Leaders now say that district committees of the unified party will be announced by April 22.
"Discussion has moved forward," a standing committee member close to Nepal told Setopati. "Discussion is now focused on the persons who will be handed responsibility."
PM Oli and Nepal had held discussion at the PM's residence in Baluwatar on Monday. Standing committee member Bedu Ram Bhusal, who is close to Nepal, also confirmed that discussion has moved forward but added that the leaders have yet to agree.
The Nepal faction has stepped back from his erstwhile stance that seniority should be considered during unification. The Oli faction had been insisting that leadership should be handed on the basis of competence and qualification after unification with the Maoists. The Nepal faction has now agreed to step back from its stance with assurance of getting leadership in some districts.
The party has already agreed that former UML leaders will lead 45 districts and the Maoists 32. Maoists will get secretary if UML gets district leadership and vice versa, as per the agreement.
The Nepal faction earlier was adamant that those who were UML chairman in the district should get to lead even the unified party. It argued that new leaders cannot be brought by removing the current ones during the process of unification.
Standing committee member from the Oli faction Subas Chandra Nembang said discussions are on in a way to conclude organizational unification by April 22 to mark the day of establishment of CPN seven decades ago.
Chairmen Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have been intensifying discussion for organizational unification in recent times and had gone to Chandragiri Thursday evening to hold discussion.
CPN has failed to form party committees at the lower level and unify the sister organizations even 11 months after the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) unified.
The party's standing committee had formed a task force under Home Minister Thapa on December 28, 2018 to submit a proposal about organizational unification of the party and to resolve the discrepancies in the provincial committees within 15 days.
But the party's secretariat dissolved the task force on February 22 after it failed to complete the assigned task, and asked the chairman duo to bring a proposal on the issue of organizational unification.
The two chairmen had been regularly discussing organizational unification at the PM's residence in Baluwatar during March. But the process was again delayed as Dahal left for America for treatment of his wife in mid-March. The chairmen have again intensified discussion on unification after Dahal returned home.
