Kathmandu, May 16
Members of Nepal’s Maoist party, which suffered multiple splits after it joined mainstream politics in 2004, have patched up a deal to come together again.
Four Maoist groups, including ones led by Prachanda, and Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) are on the verge of announcing a new political party. The then CPN-Maoist, which declared war against the state in 1994, saw half a dozen key leaders leave the party after it decided to join mainstream politics.
Leaders like Mohan Baidhya, Mani Thapa, Ram Bahadur Thapa, Netra Bikram Chand, Matrika Yadav, and later Baburam Bhattarai quit the party accusing party Chairman Prachanda of incompetence. They had alleged that Prachanda had forgotten the principles on which the ‘war’ was waged, and had colluded with the forces the party once stood against.
The first of the many major exits the party would see happened on June 22, 2012. Leaders Mohan Baidhya, Badal and Netra Bikram Chand quit the party, formed a new group, and named in CPN-Maoist (Prachanda’s party had changed its name to UCPN-M following a unification with Narayan Kaji Shrestha’s CPN-Mashal).
Baidhya’s party could not contain the aspirations of ‘revolutionary’ figures like Netra Bikram Chand, who decided to part ways with the Maoist ideologue, soon.
The latest in the series of splits came in September 2015 when Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai quit the party to start the Naya Shakti campaign.
According to the leaders involved in negotiations, the groups are preparing to formally announce a new party (whose name is yet to be finalised) amid a programme on Thursday. Under a deal which has been reached among the groups, splinter parties led by Netra Bikram Chand, Mani Thapa and Ram Bahadur Thapa will now become a part of the Prachanda-led Maoist party.
Who is going to lead the party?
Although a formal decision has not been taken yet, Prachanda is likely to lead the new party, with Narayan Kaji Shrestha being his deputy. Ram Bahadur Thapa is also likely to land the vice-chairman post.
Sources say that Dev Gurung and Pampha Bhusal are likely to be named secretaries.
Since organising a general convention would take at least a year, leader Mani Thapa says a party secretariat would be formed under the leadership of Prachanda. One of the leaders involved in the talks said a 499-member general convention organising committee was likely to be formed. A five-member committee comprising leaders of all groups is also going to be formed to finalise the party’s policies and programmes.
Naming the new party
Although leaders are discussing the possibility of reverting to ‘CPN-Maoist’, an agreement has not been reached on it so far. There may be differences over the variations of the name, but one thing is clear: the ‘Maoist’ tag will remain, a leader told Onlinekhabar.
