Maoist plenum disrupted as participants assault leaders

REWATI SAPKOTA

KATHMANDU: A stark division among the participants loyal to UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice Chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai culminated into an altercation, forcing the ongoing plenum to stop unceremoniously among sloganeering and chaos on Friday afternoon.

After participants started throwing chairs at each other and the senior leaders, including Chairman Dahal, and took to physical assault of the leaders, following an argument over the name of a speaker from the Bhojpura State Committee, the plenum's closed session witnessed another disruption today.

The Maoist Politburo is holding its meeting at the Nepal Tourism Board premises, next to the plenum venue in Bhrikutimandap, to discuss how to deal with the situation.

The party's Young Communist League (YCL) took control over two of the assaulters who tried to attack Dahal and knocked down leader Janardan Sharma.

According to some of the participants, the argument started when Baliram Saha's name was announced as the speaker from the Bhojpura State Committee.

Saha is a Bhattarai loyal, while Dahal's supporters who have majority in the State Committee took an exception over the matter and headed towards the podium to protest.

As the two sides continued chanting slogans against each other, Hisila Yami gestured her husband Dr. Bhattarai to walk out, an eyewitness said. However, leader Janardan Sharma stopped Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai there.

Though Sharma, Devendra Paudel, Nawaraj Subedi and Hemanta Oli tried to contain the situation, some participants loyal to Dr. Bhattarai pushed Sharma and Maoist Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma down to the floor from the dais, another eyewitness said.

One of them picked up a chair and aimed at Chairman Dahal. Fortunately, it did not hit him.

The cadres threw chairs at each other, and the extended meeting was put off indefinitely and the seniors leaders left the venue amid chaos.

Most of the speakers who had spoken till today, representing their respective groups, had criticised the government and Prime Minsiter Dr. Bhattarai for BIPPA with India, purported handover of the management of Tribhuvan International Airport to an Indian company and crackdown on the squattters. This had made the Bhattarai side more hostile.