CPN-UML Vice-chairman Bishnu Paudel and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel are close to reaching a new understanding on restructuring the party leadership.
According to a party leader at the office-bearer level, Paudel and Pokharel have discussed urging party Chairman KP Sharma Oli to step down with dignity and moving forward with leadership restructuring.
“There have been discussions between Vice-chairman Paudel and General Secretary Pokharel regarding party restructuring. Pokharel is also positive about leadership reorganization. The likelihood of them reaching a new understanding soon has increased,” the leader claimed.
A leader close to Paudel also said that Pokharel has now reached the conclusion that leadership restructuring is necessary. According to the leader, Pokharel conveyed this during discussions with Paudel.
“General Secretary Pokharel has also made up his mind in favor of leadership restructuring,” the leader added.
The same leader claimed that signs of this were visible during the secretariat meeting on April 3.
Speaking in the first meeting of the House of Representatives on April 2, party leader Ram Bahadur Thapa had said: “Who played the decisive internal role in this unprecedented victory? The facts make it clear that the Nepal Army, bureaucracy, the Sushila Karki government, the Karki Commission, the Barbara Foundation, NGOs, and other such institutions and actors had a decisive role in this victory.”
Vice-chairman Paudel objected to this statement and demanded a secretariat meeting the very next day.
The secretariat meeting held on April 3 corrected Thapa’s remarks.
“The meeting clarified that the party maintains and will further strengthen its cordial and friendly relations with all state security agencies including the Nepal Army, the civil administration (bureaucracy) – formed under the Constitution and prevailing laws – and the international community,” read a statement issued by General Secretary Pokharel after the meeting.
Another office-bearer claimed that Pokharel played a key role in correcting Thapa’s remarks during that meeting too.
“The party must respect the people’s mandate. Views that do not respect the people’s mandate should not be expressed,” General Secretary Pokhrel had said in the secretariat meeting.
According to the leader, this also signals an understanding between Paudel and Pokharel.
