| | KATHMANDU, July 13: Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that he would resign from the party´s parliamentary board only after August 28, arguing that an immediate resignation would be humiliating for him.
But the leaders from the alliance forged by vice-chairmen duo Mohan Baidya and Dr Baburam Bhattarai has so far rejected Dahal´s proposal, terming it his ploy to wait for an opportune time to break the alliance.
Dahal had put forward the proposal during a meeting of party leaders, including Baidya.
“His argument is that resigning from the post under pressure from rival factions would send negative messages that he has been rendered weak. We don´t buy that idea, but we are still holding talks,” said a senior leader close to Bhattarai.
Baidya confirmed that the alliance has received such an offer. “That option has been floated. In fact, we are also holding talks on various other options,” said Baidya.
Leaders from the alliance have stated that Dahal is adept at using different trump cards and accepting his offer would be self-defeating.
“You should not fight a war you are sure to lose. The chairman has always been playing different cards to defeat us. It is his strategy to indefinitely defer the implementation of decisions that are against his interests,” a leader quoted General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa as saying during an informal meeting with leaders from the Baidya faction. Thapa has thrown his weight behind the alliance.
Second generation leaders from the three factions of the party have been active in seeking solutions. Dahal´s confidant Barshaman Pun had held a meeting with the leaders of the alliance including Ram Karki, Devendra Poudel and Kul Prasad KC on Wednesday evening and asked them to be flexible in their demands.
“How far can we go like this,” a participant quoted Pun.
Despite their posturing, the party leaders are in a conciliatory mood to avoid direct confrontations.
Some central committee members led by Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha have also pushed for reconciliation.
“If the chairman immediately resigns, it means that he has lost to the rival factions. If he doesn´t, the problem persists. So the problem is how to create a win-win situation for both,” said Ninu Chapagain from the group led by Shrestha.
The party central committee (CC) scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to sharp differences between the party establishment and the Baidya-Bhattarai alliance.
The alliance leaders have claimed that they have collected the signatures of 70 CC members and are confident that they now have a majority.
Party leader Dinanath Sharma, who is considered to be close to Bhattarai, has not signed the paper in support of the alliance. Some leaders from the Bhattarai faction have accused Sharma of defecting to the Dahal faction and working against the alliance.
According to sources, Bhattarai had met with Sharma on Wednesday morning to persuade him to sign the paper. “I support your demand for sharing of power, but I won´t sign the paper,” a Maoist source quoted Sharma as telling Bhattarai.
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