Poudel put forward such opinions at a time when factionalism has penetrated deep into the rank and file of the party throwing its sister organizations, notably the workers´ union, into a complete disarray. [break]
"The party is divided into factions and coteries. We must work towards party unity and go for general convention," said Poudel who is close to party Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai. The Maoist politburo member attributed the current crisis to growing factionalism and mistrust among leaders.
"It is not good to talk negative about your party openly, but factionalism is so rife that we cannot hide it any longer. We have totally failed in molding the party into a system." He refuted the allegation of the party establishment that the Bhattarai faction is going its own way and planning to split the party. "We want to keep the party intact at all costs, not split it."
On the "attempt by a section of the party to defame Bhattarai", he said, "It is all a propaganda. They are wrong if they want to show themselves as revolutionaries by defaming Bhattarai," he said. He said the Maoist party has slipped into ideological confusion because it endorsed the political line of ´people´s revolt´ without properly assessing ground realities and failed to chart out appropriate political programs for a revolt.
"And it is funny how the advocates of revolt are jostling to become ministers," he said, adding that it was understandable why the UML decided not to give security-related ministries to the Maoist party that has passed a political line of revolt.
Pointing out the need for timely drafting of the constitution, he said that the party leadership should be transparent while dealing with each other. "Any agreement reached between Prachanda [Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal] and Jhalanath Khanal [prime minister] ´at midnight´ is bound to fail. There must be transparency," he said.
He said the Maoist party should put sincere efforts for completing the peace process and constitution drafting. "People made the Maoists the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections. It is morally wrong to put aside the task of constitution drafting,"
The Maoist leader also expressed concern over the misuse of the money raised as ´donations´ from people. "Now that the party has entered into mainstream politics, it would be wrong to continue that trend. "Why should we collect donations? Is it for buying flashy Pulsar motorbikes?" he asked, and added that the party cadres should refrain from taking laws into their hands and stop infringing the jurisdiction of the state by settle disputes forcefully.
He said the pursuit for money, power and prestige have corrupted the political culture of Nepal, Poudel said: "Even we failed to prove that we are different from others."
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