KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 2
CPN (Unified Socialist) is taking pains to clarify that there is no truth in news reports that the party is soon going to unify with CPN-Maoist Centre, but its senior leaders think otherwise.
General Secretary of the CPN (Unified Socialist) Beduram Bhusal today issued a press release stating that his party was clear that communist forces should unite, but the party had not held talks or made any decision about unification with any outfit.
CPN (US) leader Mukunda Neupane, however, said Bhusal issued the press release to prevent party cadres from leaving the party to join the CPN-UML.
"Bhusal's press release is hogwash. We all know that the party is preparing to unify with the CPN-MC," Neupane added.
He said his party had decided to form a party unitycoordination committee about which it had notified its party committees.
"CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal had said at a mass meeting in Surkhet before parliamentary and provincial elections that his party would unify with the CPN (US). When I raised this issue with a party leader, he told me that I had no reason to do so because our party had already decided about it," Neupane said.
He said he had been telling party leaders that unity should happen with all left forces, including the CPN- UML. "There are some external forces that want left forces of Nepal divided in two camps and if unity happens between CPN (US) and CPN-MC without the UML, it will only serve the purpose of external forces, Neupane said. He said if the CPN (US) and CPN-MC merged, many CPN (US) cadres and leaders would leave the party to join the UML. Neupane said left unity appeared to be a distant dream, mainly because all the top leaderswere power hungry and opportunist.
CPN (US) was established last year by a breakaway faction of the UML led by former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. The party, which has won 10 parliamentary first-pastthe-post seats, is, however, struggling to become a national party, as it has not got three per cent vote share under the proportional representation system. It is not clear yet whether the CPN (US), which has won 294,063 PR votes so far, will get enough votes to become a national party.
CPN-MC leader Lilamani Pokharel also downplayed the issue, saying that the two parties were not in talks to unify their outfits.
If the CPN-MC merges with the CPN (US), it will increase its bargaining power in the coalition politics.
As no single party has won majority in the HoR, two or more parties need to come together to form a coalition government.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 3, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
