Kathmandu, February 26
Call it irony of ironies.
While UCPN-Maoist Chair Prachanda is going out and about saying that unity with the Mohan Baidhya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Revolutionary Maoist will happen pretty soon, Baidhya says there have been no discussions with him about the same.
Baidhya has gotten so miffed with Prachanda’s bluff that he has warned the Maoist supremo not to comment on party unity for the sake of cheap popularity without holding discussions with him.
The revolutionary Maoist leader issued this warning while inaugurating a trainers’ training for party cadres in Lalitpur on Friday. Baidhya said: We are in favour of unification of Maoist parties, but we will not go for hasty unification under pressure.
Before going for party unification, there’s a need to look into factors that split the Maoist party into six factions in course of 10 years. He said it will be difficult to unite a party, which has regarded (Nepal’s) new constitution as the world’s best, with a party that has described the charter as anti-people and torched its copies.
Baidhya said: I am in favour of uniting the two parties not for the sake of making Prachanda prime minister but for completing the socialist revolution. The government has not been able to do anything when it comes to ensuring people’s livelihood, he said, pointing that rights of downtrodden ethnic groups, classes and communities have not been safeguarded. He warned ruling political parties not to rest assured just because a constitution has been promulgated. The training will conclude on March 5.