Nepal’s CPN-UML, Maoists to form new communist party
OLI AND PRACHANDA WILL BE THE LEADERS OF THE PARTY AND THE TWO WILL HAVE A GENTLEMAN’S ACCORD ON ROTATIONBASED CHAIRMANSHIP AND PRIME MINISTERSHIP
KATHMANDU : Nepal’s two major communist forces – the CPNUML and Cpn-maoist Center – announced on Tuesday they would merge and form a new party, a political development that could cause unease in New Delhi.
The two parties also agreed that CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli, who is the current Prime Minister, and Cpn-maoist Center chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” will hold the post of premier by rotation. Oli is expected to hand over the post to Prachanda after three years of the five-year term.
A seven-point agreement was finalised by the two parties at Oli’s official residence on Monday night. Senior leaders of the two sides, including Oli and Prachanda, signed the pact.
The agreement states that the new party will be named the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) and its guiding principle will be Marxism and Leninism. Oli and Prachanda will be co-chairs of the new entity.
“We (Oli and Prachanda) will be the chairmen of the party,” Prachanda said after Monday’s meeting. “Issue like rotational chairmen and prime ministers are understood as a gentlemen’s accord,” he added.
In October, the two parties had decided to merge after the parliamentary polls, which they contested as the Left Alliance with a common manifesto. However, the merger had been held up in recent weeks by differences on a power-sharing arrangement.
The Left Alliance bagged a majority of seats in the federal Parliament and formed governments in six of the seven provinces. Leaders said the two parties were bound to unite at any cost in line with the people’s mandate.
The new party’s ideology will be based on the ideologies of the two constituents. It will be fleshed out at an upcoming general assembly.
It is said that Beijing played a key role in influencing the two parties to merge after they announced their decision to jointly contest the elections.htc