Bam Dev Gautam had proposed party unification during the meeting of five of the nine secretariat members of the then CPN at Hattiban Sunday evening.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, Bam Dev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha met Sunday evening on Gautam’s initiative and discussed contemporary politics, national sovereignty, local election, communist and socialist movement, coalition with Nepali Congress (NC) and other issues.
Gautam recalled his struggle with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and the latter’s betrayal during the meeting, and proposed that the parties should not just ally for the upcoming elections but should unify before the elections.
The other four leaders took that proposal positively, according to a leader who attended the meeting.
When asked by Setopati if his party CPN (Unified Socialist) has any chance of unification with CPN (Maoist Center) after the meeting on Sunday, Khanal did not rule that out and said there are endless possibilities. "We didn't have fundamental differences earlier and even now. We will have to discuss in detail how the situation turned this way," he stated. "I have been for left unity from the beginning. We will hold discussion about how to move forward from there."
Unified Socialist even discussed the meeting of five leaders in the party’s secretariat meeting on Monday. “We had general discussion about the Sunday meeting. But there has been no talks about unification with Maoist Center. The issue has not made formal entry,” Unified Socialist Spokesperson Jagannath Khatiwada told Setopati Monday. “Friends up to the grassroots have seen the betrayal by Maoist Center in the local election. The document presented by Maoist Chairman Dahal has also denigrated us.”
Unified Socialist is divided about whether to unify with Maoist Center or UML. Some feel that UML has better recognized Unified Socialist’s powers than the Maoists but UML leaders do not want to concede that.
Unified Socialist Deputy General Secretary Ganga Lal Tuladhar said that the party may unify with both UML and Maoist Center in the long run, but that is not possible immediately. “There is no alternative to us ultimately coming together. Unification with both parties is not possible now. Possibility of unification with Maoist Center is higher if there must be one.”
