KATHMANDU, AUGUST 7
CPN-UML lawmaker Khagaraj Adhikari of the UML's establishment faction said that trust deficit between party Chair KP Sharma Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal was the main hurdle to efforts to keep party unity intact.
Adhikari said the feud in the party could end if party Chair Oli and Nepal reconciled or formed another taskforce to forge party unity on the basis of the 10-point unity proposal.
He said Nepal should not ask for the post of second chairperson for himself on the eve of the party's General Convention, which will elect new officer bearers. "A compromise formula is possible wherein the party chair can decide on crucial issues only with the consent of senior leader Nepal and the party can take decisions collectively on issues over which Oli and Nepal differ," he said, adding that Oli and Nepal could shoulder one responsibility of the two main responsibilities - taking care of the party organisation and coordinating the party's role in the Parliament.
"When the party chair shouldered both roles in the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) that created a gulf between Oli and Dahal and ultimately the NCP split,"
Adhikari said and added that UML should avoid the failed model.
Nepal-Khanal faction leader Beduram Bhusal said the feud was not only about power sharing but also about political ideology and slogans that the party would champion in future. "Oli was responsible for dissolution of the House of Representatives and loss of communist majority in the HoR, and our faction fought against Oli's move," Bhusal said and added that ideological differences were the main obstacles.
"What should we tell people about Oli's mistakes and loss of communist majority? What should we tell them in the next general elections?"
Bhusal wondered. He said if his faction talked of power sharing, it was because Oli made mistakes. He also said the 10-point unity proposal alone could not form the basis for party unity.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 8 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
