KATHMANDU: A large number of senior cadres and leaders of the Unified CPN-Maoist have expressed dissatisfaction at the expansion of the central committee (CC) of the party.

The cadres and leaders have been complaining that those who left the party during the war and returned after the peace process have become senior to them.

According to sources, the debate in the central committee meeting intensified over three party cadres -- joint in-charge of Chitwan district Thakur Dhakal, Khadga Bahadur Thanel of Awadh State Committee and Sita Pokhrel of Siraha district -- proposed by party vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha 'Prakash'.

Central committee members questioned the character of Dhakal, while they also claimed that the situation will take an ugly turn if Dhakal is promoted as there are more joint in-charges in the district. According to one CC member, Thanel was not recommended by the Awadh State Committee, while Pokhrel had been proposed by ignoring her seniors.

Similarly, a proposal to promote Srijana Gaire, the wife of central committee member Kishan Sharma, was dropped by the standing committee because Gaire was not recommended by her state committee.

During yesterday's meeting, politburo member Bhim Prasad Gautam and central committee member Ghanashyam Poudel had criticised vice-chairman Prakash. They claimed that by organising a separate gathering, Prakash had prepared a list of proposals to be put forth in the CC meeting. President of the Maoists' student wing All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) Lekhnath Neupane criticised the leadership for promoting juniors and leaving behind senior cadres.

He claimed that the party was not able to achieve much because of "incompetent hands" at the helm. He said several senior leaders are now outside the CC, while many juniors have made it to the CC following the unification with the CPN Unity Centre Masal. He claimed that the party is gradually becoming a joint front rather than a communist party with a provision of reservation for different sectors including women, Madhesis, Dalits and other underprivileged groups.

"Expansion of the central committee in such a way would only invite further problems instead of resolving the existing ones," Neupane, whose name has been proposed for a CC member, said. One politburo member said the leaders coming from the CPN Unity Centre Masal are feeling humiliated in the ongoing meeting of the CC, while some Maoist leaders feel they are being ignored.