The CPN (Unified Socialist) has built a reputation as a party that holds numerous meetings.
The party’s standing committee meeting began on Tuesday, while the politburo meeting is taking place on Wednesday. The central committee meeting has been scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The standing committee and politburo meetings were held at the party office. However, the central committee meeting will take place at the Nepal Administrative Staff College building in Lalitpur, according to the Unified Socialist.
A Unified Socialist office-bearer said that there was an interesting scene during Tuesday's standing committee meeting.
According to the office-bearer, the meeting was scheduled to start at 11 AM on Tuesday. But the meeting started a bit later than scheduled as leaders arrived late.
Party Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal had already arrived and taken his seat at the front. Nepal usually arrives on time for events.
Other leaders were still arriving for the meeting.
Then Respected Leader Jhala Nath Khanal arrived and sat at a distance on one of the chairs designated for standing committee members.
Other leaders had apparently thought that Khanal would sit in the row of office-bearers once the meeting began. But he did not go on stage even when it was time to start the meeting.
Unified Socialist General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal, standing committee member Birodh Khatiwada, and other leaders then began to explore the reason for Khanal's dissatisfaction.
It emerged that Khanal had serious grievances with the party’s recently printed statute.
The party’s 10th general convention, held from June 30 to July 4 last year, had elected Khanal as the respected leader. It had also elected Madhav Kumar Nepal as chairman and Ghanashyam Bhusal as general secretary. Separate elections were held for the remaining office-bearers and politburo members.
When the statute was printed, it apparently came with a provision that the respected leader would be appointed by the central committee. A task force led by senior party leader Beduram Bhusal had prepared and discussed the statute before the general convention. Bhusal was also given the responsibility of printing the statute, which was passed by the general convention after discussions at various committee levels.
Khanal was dissatisfied with the printed statute.
"The general convention has already elected the respected leader. In the statute, apparently the central committee appoints [the respected leader]. Now, I will go on stage only after being appointed by the central committee," a leader quoted Khanal as expressing his dissatisfaction.
After the upset Khanal did not sit in the row of office-bearers, some leaders brought him to the stage. But Khanal continued to express his dissatisfaction.
In a bid to persuade Khanal, General Secretary Bhusal turned to the standing committee members and said, “There is no committee bigger than the general convention. The decision made by the general convention must be respected, what’s written in this statute will be corrected. Isn’t it so, comrades?"
The standing committee members also agreed with him. Then Tuesday's meeting started.
Article 40 of the Unified Socialist statute has provisions related to the central committee. Sub-article 2 has determined the size of the central committee.
"The central committee will consist of 299 members including office-bearers. The number of members nominated by the central committee and the number of respected leaders and senior leaders appointed by the central committee will be added to this 299," states Article 40 (2) of the statute.
This is where Khanal's dissatisfaction lies.
"Many issues related to intra-party directives and the statute need to be corrected," a politburo member close to Khanal told Setopati. "It cannot be that the general convention makes one decision and there’s another provision in the statute. The party's decisions have not come accordingly in the intra-party directives."
The standing committee continued on Wednesday as well. But Khanal sat in the row of office-bearers this time.
Khanal's dissatisfaction is not only with the provision in the statute for selecting the respected leader but also with the recently issued intra-party directive.
The intra-party directive issued on January 27 had removed Arati Lama and Krishna Kumar Bishwakarma as the chairs of All Nepal National Free Students’ Union and Youth Federation, respectively.
Both Lama and Bishwakarma are close to General Secretary Bhusal and Khanal. They have been alleging that they were removed without being given a chance to resign from the convention.
Lama and other ANNFSU leaders relieved of their responsibilities have been conducting parallel activities. They recently held a gathering and warned of revolt. Khanal attended the event as the chief guest. Khanal also said that no one can block the right to revolt.
