WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 295 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 25.4 C -3.6 C Wednesday, December 23, 2020 | 08-09-2077 Dharan Jumla Nepal Communist Party’s fragile unity falls apart Factions led by Oli and Dahal are in bid to wrest control of the party, as both claim to have majority members on their side. MAY 16 Five- MAY 29 Dahal JULY third week Mid-AUG to mid-SEP NOV 20 Oli MARCH 4 point agree- makes public Dahal and Nepal Agreement between and Dahal Oli under- ment for party the agreement reach a written Dahal and Nepal; Nepal reach agree- JAN 26 Agni goes kid- Mid-JUNE to APRIL 20 unification between him agreement to relegated to fourth ment: Oli to Sapkota ney trans- SEP 5 Internal JAN second week mid-JULY Dahal lead the gov- Government MAY 17 Then and Oli to run remove Oli as rank; Nepal presents a elected as plant conflict surfac- Five Secretariat and Nepal unite Mid-OCT to mid-NOV ernment, issues ordinanc- CPN-UML and the government both prime min- note of dissent; Oli and the speaker es, Dahal member close to accusing Oli of AUG 16 Bamdev Dahal demands Dahal to run es related to the CPN (Maoist in turns ister and party Nepal have a heated of the announces Dahal form running the Gautam proposed implementation of the party as Constitutional 2018 Centre) unite 2019 chair debate 2020 Lower changes in ‘Dhobighat government as as party’s vice- the deal to make him executive Council and House ministers alliance’ per his will chair the executive chair chair political parties APRIL 24 APRIL 29 MAY 2 JUNE 30 JULY 28 SEP 11 OCT 21 NOV 28 DEC 15 Oli DEC 19 Oli DEC 20 DEC 22 Ordinances Demand for Both Eighteen lead- Dahal holds Announcement India spy Oli issues ordi- visits Dahal Oli recom- Party withdrawn resignation chairs ers including a Standing is made in a chief responds nance on at his resi- mends splits of the prime agree to Dahal demand Committee Standing Samant NOV 13 to Dahal’s Constitutional dence in House dis- minister at self-criti- JUNE 28 Oli Oli’s resigna- meeting, Oli Committee meet- Goel Dahal pre- document Council Act Khumaltar solution, the cise says India tion at the faction does AUG 14 A ing that party meets wit sents his DEC 6 Oli DEC 16 Oli to ask the President latter to Secretariat wants to Standing JULY 2 Oli not attend task force disputes have OCT 1 Oli Oli document skips agrees to approves withdraw remove his Committee prorogues formed to been settled appoints levelling Standing withdraw his docu- as prime the House resolve the ambassadors, allegations Committee the ordi- ment minister session conflict Dahal objects against Oli meeting nance TIKA R PRADHAN Party split. There, however, is no appointed Pradeep Gyawali as the Allegations and counter-allega- corruption. Since there is no House now, KATHMANDU, DEC 22 former UML or former Maoist party spokesperson in place of tions Oli and Dahal have been “And when it came to the party, the faction that goes to the party. There is Nepal Communist Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who is engaged in for the past few months we had to beg for party meetings,” Election Commission with the Many may not agree that the day Party led by Oli and Nepal with the Dahal faction. continued on Tuesday as well. said Dahal. “We carry the true signatures of 40 percent of the KP Sharma Oli’s CPN-UML and Communist Party led by Dahal. It then swiftly approached the Oli did not name but in what spirit of the party unity. With us total central members can split Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s CPN Which faction has or will Election Commission to register was quite apparent, he took a pot- are all the former Maoist mem- the party and have a new one reg- (Maoist Centre) announced merg- have the legal status is subject the changes made to the party shot at Dahal, saying some lead- bers and those senior leaders istered. er, both had also sealed the fate of to the decision of the Election statute. ers were only focused on three from then UML who led their It’s not that the Nepal the Nepal Communist Party. Both Commission—and if it fails to do In the meantime, the Dahal things–money, position and fami- party several times.” Communist Party saw a spectacu- the leaders, who assumed the post so, the matter will be resolved by faction, at Karki Banquet, ly. “We had to go for the [House] Dahal argued that a two-thirds lar implosion suddenly on of party chair dividing power the court. Babarmahal, held its own meet- dissolution because we cannot majority of members are with his Tuesday. It was in the making for equally between them, were However, both factions contin- ing of the Standing Committee, hand over the country to a person faction. quite some time. Oli, who is also buoyed by the fresh election victo- ue to claim to be the legitimate which “decided” to expel Oli as who only thinks about position, The Dahal faction has claimed the prime minister, however, has- ry. They were least concerned Nepal Communist Party. the party chair. In the afternoon, money and family.” to have 315 Central Committee tened the process by suddenly dis- about whether their tens of thou- On Tuesday morning, Oli held a the Dahal group held a meeting of Oli said that despite giving the members on its side. solving the House of sands of cadres and leaders of meeting of the Central Committee the Central Committee, dismiss- role of “executive chair”, Dahal When the Nepal Communist Representatives on Sunday. different ranks were indeed ready at Baluwatar attended by mem- ing the meeting held by Oli in the did nothing to complete the unifi- Party had held its first Central After its merger, the party had for the assimilation. The only bers loyal to him. He told the meet- morning as “a gathering of a cation process. Committee meeting on May 17, decided to complete all the unifi- thing they both could see then ing that it does not harm the body small faction”. “Instead they prepared a 2018, the day the party was cation process within three was power. when some furuncles are removed, After expelling Oli through a no-confidence motion and announced, it had 441 central months and hold its unity general There were murmurs among indicating at Dahal and his com- disciplinary action as per the planned an impeachment and members. convention within two years. But cadres and leaders regarding the rades from the UML days, Madhav party statute, the Dahal faction’s even showed the audacity to expel As per the Political Parties Act, even after one year, the party was life of the newly formed Nepal Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal. Central Committee meeting unan- the party chairman,” said Oli. any faction with 40 percent of struggling to complete its unifica- Communist Party (NCP). The Oli faction also constituted imously decided to elevate senior At his gathering, Dahal said Oli Central Committee members and tion process, as debate arose over On Tuesday, 31 months after its a 1,199-member general conven- leader Madhav Nepal to the party completely failed on the govern- 40 percent of Parliamentary Party the party’s ideology. formation, the Nepal Communist tion organising committee. It chair with equal status as Dahal. ance front and could not control members can register a new party. >> Continued on page 2 Polls have been announced, but there are challenges, officials say Willingness of the parties to go to the polls is the biggest one. Before that Election Commission will have to resolve the dispute within the Nepal Communist Party. resorting to violence. In the 2017 elections, protests by the Madhes-based parties regarding the delineation of electoral constituen- cies had posed challenges, particular- ly during the local elections. There had also been a limited degree of challenge from the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal as well. Even though legal challenges have been made against the dissolution of the House, Thapaliya said that as the authority to hold elections, the com- mission should prepare to hold the polls on the announced dates. “Holding elections this time around is not as challenging as in 2008 when not only was the political situation volatile but we also had to PHOTO COURTESY: PM’S SECRETARIAT prepare a new process and systems Election commissioners have suggested holding the elections in one phase to cut cost. for the elections,” said former chief election commissioner Bhojraj PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA the elections will be how the political Pokharel, who led the commission at KATHMANDU, DEC 22 situation evolves going forward,” said that time. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh But like Thapaliya and Singh he too Midterm polls have been announced Thapaliya. thinks the political situation in the in two phases on April 30 and May 10. The anti-Oli faction within the rul- country is a bigger challenge. In par- Whether they will be held or not ing party, as well as opposition parties ticular he is concerned about the first and foremost depends on how in the dissolved House of internal dispute in the Nepal the Supreme Court rules on the writs Representatives, has called the Communist Party. that have been filed calling for the House dissolution “unconstitutional”.