Task forces work out nitty-gritty of left unification

Kathmandu, March 28

The left alliance task forces have settled most of the key issues of unification but the election symbol of the party and recognition of people’s war in the statute are yet to be settled.

Left alliance sources said they were yet to discuss how many leaders from the CPN-MC and the CPN-UML would be inducted in the structures of the party.

CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal had said on Monday that the unification would not happen if his party didn’t get 50 per cent representation in the new outfit.

Senior CPN-Maoist Centre leader and Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa heads the task force created to settle issues related to organisational structure and statute.

The task force has entrusted Thapa and UML General Secretary and Minister of Defence Ishwar Pokharel with settling the issues related to ‘people’s war’ and the election symbol.

According to task force member Buduram Bhusal, UML leaders were arguing that people’s revolution should be mentioned in the preamble of the unified party’s statute and not the people’s war, as people’s revolution would imply people’s war but the CPN-MC leaders are arguing that people’s war should be clearly mentioned.

Bhusal said Thapa and Pokharel would sort out these issues and submit the task force’s report to Party Unification Coordination Committee. “We’ll write a report when they finalise the disputed issues,” Bhusal told THT.

UML leaders want sun to be the election symbol but a CPN-MC leader said sun should be inside the sickle and hammer symbol. UML leaders have argued that since sun was popular and an established symbol, it should be retained as unified party’s election symbol. “The flag of communist party will have sickle and hammer,” Bhusal added. Similar argument was put forth by the UML leaders during the time when the two parties reached a pre-poll alliance in October but the CPN-MC leaders did not agree to the UML’s proposal.

As task force has proposed in statute, unified party’s general convention should be held within two years.

The task force has reached an understanding that the unified party will be called the Nepal Communist Party. The unified party will have a central committee, standing committee, politburo, provincial committees, district committees and other committees in metropolitan cities, sub-metropolitan cities, rural and urban municipalities, wards and preliminary levels.

Oli and Dahal will co-chair the unified party and take turns to chair the party’s meetings with equal powers. The unified party will not have general secretary or secretary until the general convention is held. A secretariat will be formed to support the two co-chairpersons for daily activities of the unified party.

Executive committee will have a chairperson and secretaries in the seven provinces, metropolitan cities, sub-metropolitan cities, rural and urban municipalities, wards and preliminary levels.

There will be coordinators and secretaries in the 77 district coordination committees. According to Bhusal, the strength of district committees will be determined by the number of election constituencies of the districts. “If a district has one constituency then the committee will have 75 members and if a district has two constituencies then the committee will have 80 members. The strength of the district committee will increase by five with every additional constituency,” Bhusal said.

Kathmandu district, which has 10 constituencies, will have a 120-member district committee.

Strength of proposed panels

  • Central committee: 299
  • Politburo: 99
  • Standing Committee: 33
  • Each provincial committee: 150
  • Each district committee: 75 to 120
  • Each metropolitan city committee: 75
  • Each sub-metropolitan city committee: 61
  • Each rural and urban municipality committee: 51
  • Each ward committee: 25
  • Each preliminary level committee: 15