KATHMANDU: The CPN-UML election review and party reorganization task force has decided to merge two conflicting reports into a single document.
During Friday’s meeting, the task force reviewed the 65-page report submitted by General Secretary Shankar Pokharel and the 39-page report by Vice-chair Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’. General Secretary Pokharel’s report proposes that Chairman KP Sharma Oli should resign, whereas Vice-chair Badal’s report insists there is no alternative to the current leadership.
According to party publicity department chief Niraj Acharya, the task force will study both documents and hold further discussions starting tomorrow to finalize a unified report. In his report, Badal argued that attempting to remove the chairman, who was elected with 75 percent of the vote at the 11th National General Convention, is futile and contrary to the party’s interests.
He warned General Secretary Pokharel not to attempt to become a ‘champion’ of party reorganization after being elected as an office-bearer from the chairman’s own panel. Badal emphasized that leadership transition requires a plan from the Central Committee and that a single election result cannot invalidate the mandate of the General Convention.
Defending the current leadership, he dismissed criticisms regarding age limits and term restrictions as biased, citing the practices of the Communist Party of China. The decision to merge these diametrically opposed reports has sparked significant interest regarding how the party will reconcile these internal differences.
