Dahal camp castigates Baidya, Bhattarai

	KIRAN PUN from republica KATHMANDU, June 26: Just a day after the UCPN (Maoist) held a meeting of the party Central Committee (CC) to resolve internal disputes, the establishment faction organized a gathering of artists and writers in Kathmandu Saturday and castigated Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and Dr Baburam Bhattarai, who lead rival factions in the party. "The alliance of the Baidya and Bhattarai factions is unpolitical and will be fatal for both," a participant quoted party leader Haribol Gajurel as saying at the gathering held at a banquet venue. According to him, Baidya had accused Bhattarai of being a revisionist and advocates protracted people´s war; so the alliance between the two is unnatural. On Friday, 156 Maoist lawmakers had submitted a memorandum to the party CC demanding that Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal implement the party´s decision to send 33 percent women into the government. Gajurel, who is close to Dahal, stated that the party failed to move ahead successfully during the last three years because of Baidya and Bhattarai. "The chairman listened to Baidya and Bhattarai only and that was the main reason for failure. We have brought the party onto the right track again after the Palungtar plenum, and it will now run smoothly,” a participant quoted Gajurel as saying. Gajurel dubbed Bhattarai´s political line the “people´s multiparty democracy” propagated by the late CPN-UML General Secretary Madan Kumar Bhandari. Maoist military in-charge Barshman Pun stated that the party would move ahead with the integration and rehabilitation of its combatants only under four conditions. The conditions are that Nepal Army should stand for national interest, the parties should agree to integrate 8,000 to 10,000 combatants, they should have combat roles, and there should be certainty that the peace process will reach a logical conclusion and the revolution will move forward. Pun, who is also a member of the Special Committee for integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants, refuted the charge by the Baidya faction that the party is making compromises on its fundamental principles. "We have so far agreed on minor issues only. We won´t make any compromises on state restructuring, a directly elected executive president and a fully proportional electoral system," a participant quoted Pun as saying further. During the meeting, party Secretary Post Bahadur Bogati proposed the slogan "Let´s clear misunderstandings" inside and outside the party. He meant that Chairman Dahal has been misunderstood inside and outside the party and the party should launch a campaign against that. Some 209 writers and artists participated in the gathering. A majority of members in the Maoist-aligned All Nepal People´s Cultural Federation (ANPCE) are from the Baidya faction "We organized the gathering to discuss and learn about the latest developments in the party. The program has been organized to create an environment for party unity," ANPCF Vice-chairman Matrika Pokhrel told Republica, According to him, Maoist state committee chiefs presented reports criticizing the Baidya and Bhattarai factions for “conspiring to split the party.”
Published on 2011-06-26 00:00:01