National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Battle Intensifies

As the party's general convention approaches, UML leaders intensify their race for leadership

By SANJAYA DAKAL

The election for representatives to the CPN-UML's upcoming seventh general convention has been completed. About 1,000 elected representatives will be taking part in the convention that kicks off in Janakpur from February 1.

According to central leader Iswor Pokharel, the document passed by the central committee of the party is being studied by local party organizations. The document, along with the recommendations from the local-level organizations, will be put before the general convention for final adoption.

Oli (left) and Nepal : Tough battle

Meanwhile, the struggle for the party leadership has intensified with both warring factions claiming their majority in the party representatives election. General secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and leader K.P. Sharma Oli both claimed majority support among the representatives, who were elected in nation-wide elections.

Oli, a former home minister, has posed himself as a serious contender for the party leadership. He has challenged the efficiency of the leadership provided by Nepal, who has been the party's general secretary for the last 10 years. He has already prepared a "different viewpoint" challenging Nepalís official document. Oliís separate document will be put before the party workers and leaders at the general convention.

"Ten years is enough for anybody to show talent. Since he could not do anything spectacular for the party, it is time he stepped aside," Oli said a few weeks ago.

As such, the upcoming seventh general convention slated for February 1 to 5 in Janakpur, which should have been an event for celebration is turning out to be quite the opposite. After the bitter split it suffered in the sixth convention, the party was gradually overcoming the pain. The splinter Marxist-Leninist party had returned to the fold exactly a year ago. But the fresh contest for leadership has reopened the wounds.

According to political analysts, the problem with the party is that it still functions in a closed manner, although it wishes to play politics in an open and pluralistic society. Unlike the Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party, internal wranglings in the UML are often kept out of public view. The intense maneuvering among comrades do not appear on surface and are hence denied the natural way out.

Consequently, the existing fault-lines are widening ahead of the general convention. The approval of political and organizational report of the general secretary Nepal, which ought to have been a simple formality, became such a touch-and-go affair. It was after a lot of wrangling among top comrades that the central committee finally gave approval to the 75-page political and organizational report of the general secretary, but not before a few amendments were made.

Oli was bitter after Nepal refused to omit some sentences in his report where he indirectly accused Oli of hobnobbing with "outside forces" without the party's permission. The accusation came a few days after Oli met the King, when Nepal was overseas.

The current row flared up after general secretary Nepal was challenged by stalwarts like Oli and Bamdev Gautam. The comrade duo seemed gunning from the same side after both demanded that the general convention should elect both the general secretary and chairman. The post of chairman had been left out following the death of Manmohan Adhikary. Clearly, Nepal felt the proposal was aimed at pruning his power and opposed it vehemently.

However, the meeting of the UML standing committee, where Nepal enjoys majority support, decided to scrap the post of chairman altogether. It said the seventh convention would elect the central committee, which in turn, would elect the general secretary. Out of 14 members of the committee, only three - Oli, Gautam and Modnath Prashrit - supported induction of the post of chairman. The meeting had also decided to change the party flag, which was later withdrawn by the central committee meeting. Both Oli and Gautam had forwarded their own reports dissenting with the general secretary on a number of critical issues like the party's position vis-‡-vis monarchy, other mainstream political parties and the Maoists. Oli's paper specially mentioned the failure of leadership in controlling corruption within the party.

Gautam, on the other hand, seems to be still nursing his old Mahakali wounds. His dissenting paper asked the UML to concede its mistakes in ratifying the Mahakali Treaty in 1996, which he terms as anti-national. This, despite Gautam's pledge last year, when he and his ML decided to reunite with UML, to keep the Mahakali issue on the sidelines.

The seventh convention of the party is certain to be crucial as it comes at a time when the country is in unprecedented crisis. Immediately after the convention, the party is expected to join the combined movement initiated by the Nepali Congress to protest against Maoist violence as well as "regressive" moves by the King.