Keys handover row: Dahal asks Baidya to stick to party policy

sep 12

Expressing his displeasure at the recent activities of the party’s hard-line faction, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya to adhere to party’s official line of peace and constitution.

Dahal called Baidya at his residence after the hard-line camp took to the streets against the party’s decision to hand over keys to the Maoist arms containers, held factional meetings across the country and imparted paramilitary training to cadres loyal to it. During the discussion, Dahal said there was no alternative to working for peace and constitution as a consolidated party. In response, Baidya asked Dahal to apologise for decisions he had taken without discussing enough the issue in the party while handing over the keys.

“Dahal requested Baidya to support the party’s bid on peace and constitution and present his differences in the party’s Central Committee meeting,” said Haribol Gajurel, a leader close to Dahal. The establishment faction (led by Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai) and Baidya are at loggerheads over some issues pertaining to integration and rehabilitation of the party’s combatants. The Maoist party has called its Central Committee meeting on September 30 to sort out differences over combatant integration and keys handover issues. The hard-line faction is pressing the establishment faction not to take any decision on integration before the Central Committee decides a clear position on peace and constitution.

However, Dahal and Bhattarai are saying that they are free to take any decision on integration on the basis of the party’s bottom line passed by the Standing Committee on August 25. The PM’s plan to start the regrouping process before he leaves for New York to participate in the UN General Assembly is likely to be affected due to the position taken by the hardliners.

Dahal also asked Baidya to join the government but the latter turned down the request saying there was no moral and political ground to join the Cabinet without ending the keys handover row. “The Baidya faction sticks to its position on peace, constitution and keys handover,” said Gajurel. In an effort to solve the dispute, Dahal also met General Secretary and party’s military department chief Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is also unhappy with Dahal over the keys issue. Thapa had joined hands with Baidya against the decision of the party establishment.

sorce - e kantipur