Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to float some “concrete proposals” at the party standing committee to speed up the peace process, while the hard-line faction led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya is bent on foiling the proposal arguing that the peace process and constitution drafting should move ahead side by side.[break]
“We are against concluding the peace process in the next three months without ensuring that the constitution would be drafted on time,” said Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel who is close to Baidya.
On Wednesday, the Baidya faction had registered a note of dissent against the party office bearers´ decision to end the security being provided to senior party leaders by the PLA personnel.
As per the commitment to implement the five-point deal signed just ahead of the extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA), Maoists have been hard-pressed to complete the major tasks of the peace process, including the categorization of the PLA into those opting to join the security forces and those for rehabilitation, in the next three months.
Baidya faction has argued that the integration process should not be completed without any guarantee of the promulgation of a “federal people´s constitution” in the country.
The faction may even demand a meeting of the Central Committee (CC) to take up the issue. “We will first see how the discussions would move ahead and deicide whether to register a note of dissent or demand a CC meeting,” said Gajurel.
Those advocating the line of peace and constitution through compromises are in a majority in the party standing committee, politburo and CC. So Dahal is likely to move ahead ignoring the resistance of the hard-line faction.
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