KATHMANDU, Nov 16: Despite serious objection from the other two party factions, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has defended his move to prepare another political document, synthesizing the documents of Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai, for presentation at the party plenum to be held in Gorkha district beginning November 21.
The party establishment has claimed that Dahal is working on the document as per the decision of the last central committee (CC) meeting.
“The last CC has given me the mandate to accommodate the views presented in the three documents and prepare another document for presentation at the party plenum. That´s why I am preparing it now,” a Maoist politburo member quoted Dahal as telling his aides on Monday.
Dahal was also angry at the leaders of the rival factions for blowing up the issue in the media. “How did they know that I am writing another document?” Dahal said.
The Maoist party is vertically divided into three factions led by Dahal, Baidya and Bhattarai who represent three different ideological lines within the Maoist movement and are presenting separate political documents at the forthcoming jumbo party meet that will see participation of some 5,500 members of the Maoist state committees.
In the last CC meeting, the top three leaders had presented their documents and it was agreed that the differences would be resolved in the plenum.
The leaders close to Baidya and Bhattarai have cried foul over Dahal´s move and said it is against democratic norms to synthesize the documents before discussing them in the plenum and that they would challenge the chairman´s decision.
“If he doesn´t want to listen to the views of the plenum, why did he stage a drama of reading out the documents to the cadres?” asked a central leader close to Baidya.
The leader said that the last CC had not asked the chairman to prepare another document without discussing the three separate documents at the plenum. “It could be the views of some leaders, but the last CC meeting had not taken any such decision,” he said.
Leaders close to both the factions have stated that the chairman can synthesize the documents at the end of the meeting after listening to the feedback from the plenum and if that satisfies both Baidya and Bhattarai.
The CC meeting to be held ahead of the plenum, which is likely to see heated debates on many intra-party contentious issues, will resolve the issue.
Leaders continue forays into districts
Just ahead of the plenum, Maoist leaders, especially those close to Dahal, have been active wooing party cadres to turn their support toward their respective factions.
Maoist leaders Chandra Prakash Khanal and Haribol Gajurel are actively canvassing support for Dahal in the Maoist Abadh state, which is regarded as stronghold of Bhattarai. Besides, CP Gajurel and Netra Bikram Chand are also in Abadh seeking support for Baidya. According to sources, Janardan Sharma and Shakti Basnet are also reaching Abadh after visiting Baglung to seek support for Dahal. Similarly, Basraman Pun is active in Jhapa seeking support for Dahal.
Dr Bhattarai´s visit to the party´s Kochila state seeking support for his political document had sparked controversy and the party had issued a circular to senior party leaders to stop visiting districts to woo the cadres.
“We stopped visiting districts after the circular was issued, but those loyal to the chairman have not. It is a violation of the party decision,” said a leader close to Bhattarai.
Besides, the three party factions have also launched psychological warfare against each other.
“What distinguishes this plenum from those of the past is also the use of apolitical means for political purposes. You can see the massive use of non-political resources now,” said a central leader who has maintained a neutral position in the party.
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