Home Minister and CPN secretariat member Ram Bahadur Thapa finally decided to join the faction of Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli but his lieutenants have not accompanied him.
Thapa, who did not made his allegiance clear for four days, finally decided to join Oli camp Wednesday evening but all central members close to him are in the faction of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Over three dozen central committee members in CPN formed after unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) were close to him while his group also has six House of Representatives (HoR) members.
"Almost all of us are with Dahal-Nepal. I have been told that Thapa has gone to the other faction," central member Suresh Ale, who is close to Thapa, told Setopati. "I had expected that he will also oppose regression. But my respect for him him remains no matter where he and we remain."
A source claimed that Thapa's political advisor Surya Subedi has also joined Dahal-Nepal faction. "He was our leader. The leader should have been able to convince all but he could not take us all together," another central member close to Thapa said. "He has rated the post of home minister big. He has, therefore, gone to Baluwatar alone. What is the meaning of a general without soldiers?"
Dahal had twice gone to the ministerial quarter in Pulchowk to woo Thapa to his camp but to no avail. Thapa, who had once left Dahal to split along with Mohan Baidya from the then Maoists before returning back to the Maoist party, has again deserted Dahal despite being appointed home minister on Dahal's quota.
He has joined the Oli camp despite his confidants advising him to resign as minister.
