KATHMANDU, JUNE 7
The Madhav Kumar Nepal-Jhalanth Khanal faction of the CPN-UML today rejected Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's appeal for unity, saying that the PM was not honest about party unity.
The Nepal-Khanal faction leader Beduram Bhusal said the PM's proposal for unity was rejected because the faction leaders who had signed the petition challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives would not withdraw their signatures as the move was aimed at protecting the constitution and democracy.
He said the PM did not clearly state that party committees and structures that existed before the CPN-UML's merger with the CPN-Maoist Centre would be revived.
"He has used the word 'mostly' implying that he is not committed to reviving all the committees and structures that existed before the UML's merger with the CPN-MC," he added.
Bhusal said the PM only said that from now on he would not take action against any leader who dissented against him, but he did not say anything in his appeal about the leaders whom he expelled from the party or against whom he had taken disciplinary action. He said there was no division in his faction about the PM's offer of unity and all the leaders of the faction were of the view that Oli was not honest about maintaining party unity.
Meanwhile, CPN-Maoist Centre Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal today met Nepal and wanted to know whether UML leaders would withdraw signatures from the writ petition challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives as proposed by Oli. CPN-MC Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said Nepal assured Dahal that UML leaders would not withdraw their signatures.
A total of 146 members of the dissolved HoR, including those from the Nepali Congress, the Nepal-Khanal faction of the UML, and the Upendra Yadav-Baburam Bhattarai faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal have filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the dissolution of the HoR.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 8, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
