Bhattarai ‘ready’ for senior leader position Leaders say ex-PM okay with idea if plenum takes such a call

KATHMANDU, JUL 17 -
UCPN (Maoist) leader Baburam Bhattarai on Tuesday expressed willingness to take up the position of a senior leader if the party’s extended plenum unanimously takes such a decision, leaders said. The position, according to party leaders, is non-executive. Bhattarai has publicly said that he would not hold an executive post in the party.

The development follows party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s meeting on Tuesday with senior leaders, former Standing Committee members and the bureau in-charge, where he proposed making Bhattarai a senior leader.

The former prime minister, Bhattarai recently stepped down as the party’s vice-chairman.

If made a senior leader, Bhattarai’s position in the UCPN (Maoist) will be similar to the one held by Sher Bahadur Deuba in the Nepali Congress. Deuba enjoys a special status in the party, second only to party President Sushil Koirala, even though he is not among the top office bearers of the party.

Such a position would mean Bhattarai will be senior to the vice-chairmen, the general secretary and four secretaries.

“I personally don’t have any desire to hold the post of a senior leader, but if the party officially takes such a decision, I will accept it,” leader Devendra Poudel, who is close to Bhattarai, quoted the former PM as saying in the meeting.

According to Poudel, Bhattarai is under pressure from his own camp and the Dahal faction to accept the senior leader’s position and play an active role in the party, especially when the Constituent Assembly (CA) election is round the corner.

However, a final decision will be taken in the party’s extended plenum scheduled to begin on July 19.

Meanwhile, Bhattarai’s proposal to keep only the post of the chairman in the party and make all the others as Central Committee members has drawn flak from party leaders.

As a solution to the intra-party rift over internal appointments, Bhattarai had proposed dissolving the office bearers’ group, the Standing Committee and the Politburo and keeping only two positions—party chairman and central committee members.

The proposal means incumbent Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha and General Secretary Post Bahadur Bogati will have to resign and become Central Committee members.

Leaders, including Shrestha, Bogati, Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Barsha Man Pun, said Bhattarai’s proposal is a ploy to sideline them in the party.

“He wants to dissolve all the positions with a view to promoting leaders close to him after some period of time,” a leader close to Vice-chairman Shrestha said.

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