Kathmandu, May 10
If recent media reports were anything to go by, the unification of the Badal faction of the CPN-Revolutionary Maoist and the UCPN-Maoist was ‘coming soon’. But a different spectacle has emerged on the big day, the day the faction was supposed to split from the Revolutionary Maoist party and tie the knot with the Prachanda-led party.
As per the plot, Ram Bahadur Thapa aka Badal was to call a meeting of the central committee on Tuesday and announce a formal split from the party with support from a majority of the party’s central committee members and join Prachanda’s party. Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’, chief of the Revolutionary Maoist party, had issued a stern warning against this, even after getting Badal’s invite to join the meeting.
In a swift counterplot, Kiran himself called a meeting of the central committee on Tuesday, turning what could have become a big meeting into an informal gathering of party office-bearers. This means the plan to split from Baidhya’s party and join Prachanda’s outfit will take at least a few days to materialise.
At the meeting underway at the Newa State Committee office in Kupandole, leaders are briefing the participants about the party’s activities.