KIRAN PUN KATHMANDU, Feb 2:The Maoist faction led by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has begun exercise to bolster its organizational base in light of growing dissatisfactions among party leaders and shifting alliances within the party.
Party sources say the Bhattarai faction´s move comes at a time when his organizational base has depleted since getting elected to the post of prime minister, and he faces the challenge of retaining leaders loyal to him who have been backing him for years.
The senior leaders of the faction have held separate gatherings in the capital lately to “safeguard the ideological line” in light of the growing intimacy between Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya.
On January 21, senior party leaders from the faction met at the private residence of Bhattarai in Sanepa. The prime minister himself participated in the meeting that was coordinated by his political advisor Devendra Poudel.
Sources say the leaders quizzed Bhattarai about his current relations with Chairman Dahal and the latter´s hobnobbing with Baidya. “You did not even present a separate document during the central committee meeting, though the chairman seems to have changed his alliance,” a participant quoted the leaders as saying. Bhattarai had replied that Dahal had consulted with him before preparing the paper and that there was nothing wrong in the paper.
The members had also complained about “bad governance” under his leadership and his neglect of those who had backed him for years.
A similar gathering of youths was held at the same place on January 26 and it was coordinated by politburo member Ram Karki.
Likewise, Nawaraj Subedi, another senior leader, had coordinated a gathering of Maoist intellectuals on January 28.
It is noteworthy that Poudel, Karki and Subedi are not content with Bhattarai. Poudel has frequently complained about Bhattarai´s tendency to go his own way, ignoring his advice, while Karki, his longtime associate, is not happy for being deprived of any significant role in the governance.
Though Karki has been nominated ambassador to India, he is yet to receive agreemo from the southern neighbor. Subedi, another of Bhattarai´s aides, too hasn´t got any role in Bhattarai´s team. Sources say many of his close aides have already left his faction.
Meanwhile, Bhattarai faction has also begun holding dinner parties and cultural programs to expand and strengthen its organizational base.
The faction´s cultural wing held a separate cultural show at Rastriya Naachghar in the capital on Monday. It may be recalled that the Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya faction´s Samana Pariwar has already been organizing cultural shows across the country apparently to “spread the flame of revolution”.
Sources say the unionists close to Bhattarai are also holding a separate gathering in Kathmandu on Feb 8, in which Bhattarai is set to participate.
"Post Bahadur Bogati [from Dahal faction] and Badri Bajagain [from Baidya faction] are holding their own gatherings. Why not us?" said Laldhwaj Nembang, union leader from Bhattarai faction. |
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