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| Kathmandu, Wednesday March 05, 2003 Falgun 21, 2059. |
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Party committee grills Gautam
By Ghanashyam Ojha
KATHMANDU, March 4 : The Communist Party of
Nepal - Unified Marxist & Leninist (CPN-UML) has initiated disciplinary action against
Bam Dev Gautam, the party Standing Committee member, for supporting the demand for a
constituent assembly put forth by the Maoists.
Gautam was today summoned by the party
Disciplinary Inspection Committee to question him regarding his recent remarks supporting
constituent assembly, a high level party source told The Kathmandu Post.
The source said chairman and secretary of the
committee, Bedu Ram Bhusal and Ganga Lal Tuladhar, respectively asked Gautam why he spoke
for constituent assembly and gave legitimacy to the present Lokendra Bahadur Chand
government, which is against the "party line".
Gautam defended himself saying that he spoke as
per the spirit of the party line, the source said.
However, the source also said that the party
Disciplinary Inspection Committee was not competent enough to question or initiate action
against any member of the party standing committee. This is a new tradition in the UML.
"Gautam has taken this action with great concern," added the source.
But there are fears that the disciplinary
committee might even recommend expulsion of Gautam from party.
However, Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary
of the UML expressed ignorance of any such action. "I have no idea of it, I will
speak only in the party meeting," Nepal said.
A few days ago, Gautam had supported the Maoists’
demand for formation of an interim government, round-table meeting and constituent
assembly speaking during a programme held in the capital. He had said that the UML should
be ready to go to constituent assembly at such situation when even the ‘head of the
state had violated the current constitution’.
"UML should be ready for constituent
assembly, provided it resolves the current political stand-off," Gautam had said.
Gautam had urged that all political parties,
including the UML, should cooperate with the government with the current peace process.
Gautam’s remarks have come against the lines of party general secretary Nepal who has
been demanding the immediate dissolution of the present Chand-government.
Nepal last week had said that the present
Chand-government had no any legal right to initiate peace talks with the Maoists.
"Only the all-party government will initiate peace process with the Maoists,"
Nepal had said. He had even ruled out role of the king in the peace process.
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