• Task forces will resolve issues related to leadership roles, responsibilities and ideological common ground for the unified party

Kathmandu, January 8 The left alliance’s Party Unification Coordination Committee is likely to form  two joint task forces tomorrow to work on the unified party’s structure and political ideology. The task forces will have to complete their tasks before formation of a new government, according to CPN-MC leader Shakti Bahadur Basnet, who met party Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal today and discussed unification issues with him. According to Basnet, Oli and Dahal will be given respectable roles in the unified party. He hinted that the prime minister and the party chair would not be the same person. Sources said the UML had floated the idea of having two chairpersons — one having major role of leading the government and another heading the party. According to Narayan Kaji Shrestha, a senior leader of CPN-MC, task forces will resolve issues related to  organisational structure, including leadership roles and responsibilities, as well as ideological common ground for the unified party. According to him, left alliance leaders will formulate methodology for resolving ideological issues. CPN-MC leaders have been saying that unification of the two parties should be the first priority, while UML leaders say government should be formed first and unification can happen later. Oli and Dahal today consulted their parties’ leaders on National Assembly election, provincial government formation and appointment of governors of seven provinces. Oli convened the UML standing committee meeting at his residence, while Dahal  consulted CPN-MC leaders Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Ram Bahadur Thapa, Barshaman Pun and Shakti Bahadur Basnet at the party’s headquarters. He instructed the party’s rank and file not to adopt any stance, express individual thoughts or make comments in a way that could complicate unification between the CPN-MC and the UML. Oli also told leaders to refrain from making negative comments about unification between the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC. According to senior UML leader Subas Chandra Nembang, Oli told the meeting that delay in holding National Assembly election and announcing results of parliamentary and provincial proportional representation elections was deliberate and had no legal justification. According to UML Standing Committee member Surendra Panday, the meeting also agreed to form necessary committees for party unification. Oli is likely to fly to Bangkok for a routine health check-up on Wednesday. Left alliance leaders say the party unification process will be concluded on the basis of the seven-point agreement reached on October 3.