• Holds talks with Bhattarai ​​​​​​​• Parleys with Nepal next
KATHMANDU, JULY 21
Chair of CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal today held talks with former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai and asked him to join efforts to create the Nepal Communist Party–Socialist Centre, which Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) could also join. CPN-MC leader Haribol Gajurel said talks between the two leaders were positive.
Gajurel said a tie-up with Bhattarai might not be possible before the next parliamentary and provincial elections. He said a committee would be formed to accelerate unity or alliance talks with the CPN (Unified Socialist). This is the second time in a week that Dahal has held talks with Bhattarai in an attempt to rope him into a larger communist-socialist outfit.
Ganga Shrestha, who is close to Bhattarai, also said that today's talks between Dahal and Bhattarai were positive. Asked if Bhattarai had agreed to create NCP-Socialist Centre, Shrestha said it was not yet clear how talks would move in the coming weeks.
Shrestha said they realised that the name of the new party could be decided by the party's general convention and before the general convention the party could use the name CPN-Socialist Centre.
Earlier, Bhattarai had told media outlets that he was not in favour of rejoining a communist party.
Dambar Khatiwada, who was once close to Bhattarai, said Bhattarai and Dahal were trying to create a new political force inducting former Maoists and communist forces other than the CPN-UML, but their effort would not succeed.
Khatiwada said politically it would not be prudent for Bhattarai to rejoin hands with Dahal. "Bhattarai's ideology matches that of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal,"
Khatiwada said, adding that if Bhattarai joins hands with Dahal, he would go against his own pledge of creating an alternative political force in the country.
Bhattarai had left the CPN-MC a few years ago pledging to form a new alternative force to achieve the goals of socialism. Bhattarai had merged his Naya Shakti Party with the Upendra Yadav-led Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, which was later named Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal. But recently Yadav expelled Bhattarai and eight leaders of the party close to Bhattarai.
On Monday, Bhattarai had told Dahal that he would not return to the CPN-MC. Dahal is keen to form a socialist party before the parliamentary and provincial elections likely to be held in November.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
