Leaders close to Bhattarai said they have not yet understood why Bhattarai has been asked to lead such a front as he doesn´t agree with the main spirit of the party´s official political line.[break]
“It is absurd to ask him to lead the front. How can he lead such a front when he strongly opposes the current line?” said a leader from the Bhattarai camp.
He said that the leader of the political front is also supposed to be the leader of the parliamentary party. “The chairman is the leader of the parliamentary party. So there is no point in taking up that responsibility,” said the leader.
Dahal is the head of the party, the army and the front -- the three organs of the Maoist movement.
According to sources, Bhattarai met with Dahal on Wednesday morning, before flying to New Delhi, and told him that he is not interested to take up the job without knowing what the job responsibility entails. “You should first define my responsibilities in concrete terms. You should clearly say what I am supposed to do,” a source quoted Bhattarai as telling Dahal. Bhattrai also told the chairman that he would discuss division of party responsibilities among the leaders after returning from his Delhi visit.
Unlike other top office bearers, Bhattarai doesn´t have any specific party responsibilities. Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya heads the organization, Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha is the deputy parliamentary party leader, General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa is the bureau chief of the central region, Secretary Chandra Prakash Gajurel is the chief of the eastern region and another Secretary Post Bahadur Bogati is the party chief whip.
On Wednesday, Dahal told the meeting that he would not reshuffle the responsibilities of the top office bearers.
In the Central Committee (CC) meeting, leaders from the Bhattarai faction including Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Ram Karki and Devendra Paudel objected to the division of work among the top office bearers saying the decision was taken “through a majority vote, not through consensus.´´
Change around jobs run into snag
The party Central Committee failed to reshuffle the responsibilities among the leaders and handed over the task back to the standing committee, instead. Leaders from the Bhattarai camp stated that they would carry out the responsibilities if the party asks them to do so, though they disagree with the party line.
“We will certainly carry out the responsibilities if we are given the tasks as per our interests,” said Maoist politburo member Ram Karki. He said it is the responsibility of the majority -- now led by Dahal and Baidya -- to give due space to the minority -- now led by Bhattarai. The Bhattarai faction leaders have stated that they would abide by the party principle of “diversity in views but unity in work”.
Maoists said that the CC can be expanded to include capable leaders from Madhes and other marginalized groups.
The CC has decided to give internal training to cadres of all the party state committees between January 17 and Janaury 31.
PLA chief boycotts CC meeting
Maoist People´s Liberation Army (PLA) chief Nanda Kishor Pun boycotted the CC meeting on Wednesday.
According to sources, he told the leaders that he decided to boycott the meeting as the party factions are unnecessarily bickering over key positions in the party. "The enemy (government) is planning to seize our weapons from the cantonment, but we leaders are wasting our time demanding key positions in the meeting," a source quoted Pun as telling the party leaders.
On Tuesday, too, Pun had left the meeting venue when the meeting was in full swing.
He was learnt to have complained that the party leaders were only using the PLA as a bargaining chip to lead the government, while the "enemies" are trying to "dissolve" the party´s army.
Pun is the only PLA deputy commander who had fought battles from the ground. He was a part of the insurgency from the very beginning.
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