UCPN (Maoist) chief says no to leadership handover

BIRATNAGAR, JAN 20 -
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said he will not relinquish the party leadership as sought by some of the party leaders.

Talking to reporters at the Biratnagar Airport on Sunday, the Maoist supremo asserted that the demand for a change in the party leadership is insensible at a time when the party is in trouble.

Dahal, who was on his way to attend a programme of Kirat community at Larumba in Ilam district, said the reasons behind the party’s defeat in the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election were being reviewed, stressing on the need to strengthen the party and its leadership.

“Raising the issue of leadership change at this moment is a ploy to damage the party. The leadership cannot run away when the party has been defeated,” said Dahal.

Speaking at the party’s Central Committee meeting in the Capital on Saturday, Maoist senior leader Baburam Bhattarai had sought Dahal’s resignation arguing that the same person should not lead the party for over 25 years. The former vice-chairman said he would continue to protest the “Stalin style of activities” of Dahal and demanded transparency in party work.

Stating that there is no need of resignation when a single election is lost in the communist revolution, Dahal insisted that the so-called question of morality, like in bourgeoisie parties, does not surface in a communist party.

He also denounced the allegation that he was treading the path of Stalin. “There is no truth behind the allegations of me being a Stalin kind. The documentation against the Stalin style was approved with the help of Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya,” he said.

In another context, Dahal said that the two largest parties— Nepali Congress and CPN-UML— had to form the government. He claimed that the UCPN (M) is concentrating on promulgating the new constitution within a year

and does not have any interest in the matters of President, Vice-president and the government.

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