Following a long period of accusations and counter-accusations, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Respected Leader Jhala Nath Khanal have finally sat together in an attempt to reconcile.
Ever since the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against Nepal at the Special Court in connection with the Patanjali land scam, Khanal has been urging him to step down from the party leadership.
Nepal, who has consistently denied the corruption allegations, is displeased with Khanal’s proposal. This has led to a series of accusations and counter-accusations between the two leaders.
After Nepal and Khanal traded accusations in public, some Unified Socialist leaders mediated to create an environment for dialogue between them.
Accordingly, Nepal and Khanal held discussions for nearly two hours on Saturday morning at the party’s central office in Aloknagar, said Senior Vice-chairman Rajendra Pandey.
"Dialogue has begun between the chairman and respected leader. An understanding has also been reached to not speak against each other," Pandey told Setopati. "Saturday’s discussion was not very long. They have agreed to meet again soon and reach an understanding on the remaining issues."
Pandey said that the party’s second-tier leaders facilitated the meeting.
"Seeing that whatever came out into the public recently would worsen the environment, we brought the two leaders together for dialogue," Pandey said. "Pramesh Hamal, Ghanashyam Bhusal, and I facilitated the meeting. There isn’t anything particularly noteworthy about yesterday’s meeting. The next meeting will give it a shape."
When we asked Khanal what topics were discussed with Nepal, he expressed dissatisfaction, saying he couldn’t raise many issues.
“The chairman spoke for 40 minutes, bringing up issues from history. He said he had to go to Janakpur,” Khanal said. “I did raise a few points, especially reiterating that I’m ready to discuss the issues I’ve been raising anywhere. There are problems in the party, and my proposal is that they should be resolved through proper discussions.”
He also stated that he highlighted the various issues in party operations and stressed that the chairman himself should play a role in resolving them systematically.
When we asked Khanal whether the topic of an acting chairman was raised, he replied, "I did not bring this up with the chairman. I will never ask anyone for the role of acting chairman in my life again. I won’t even go asking to be given the acting chairman’s role."
Nepal, on his part, said that he was positive about resolving the various issues facing the party. He also stressed the need to justify the rebellion against the CPN-UML.
After the meeting with Nepal, Khanal returned to his residence in Dallu and later held discussions with leader Bamdev Gautam on Saturday.
Gautam told Setopati that the nearly six-hour-long discussion at Khanal’s residence in Dallu focused on uniting the party.
"We are old comrades, and we hadn’t spoken for a long time. The conversation was more personal than party-related," Gautam said. "There was no discussion worth publicizing. We talked about uniting the party and strengthening the communist movement."
