Submit your Article

In the Parliament session on Thursday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal presented a list of factors that led him to break the alliance with the Nepali Congress, giving continuity to the blame-game between the Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center). According to Dahal, though cadres of his party, the CPN (Maoist Center), fully supported NC candidates in elections, the level of support from NC toward Maoist candidates was far less. 

Our candidate from Koshi province got defeated in National Assembly elections as NC betrayed, he said. Another reason, according to PM Dahal, is the outcome of a recent Mahasamiti meeting of the NC, which censored the pre-poll alliance. He also questioned NC’s commitment to the Constitution, pointing that some NC leaders had spoken in favor of a Hindu state during the Mahasamiti meeting. 

Dahal objected to what he called a ‘negative portrayal’ of the Maoist insurgency in NC’s official documents and insufficient support from the ruling coalition partner for a smooth functioning of the government under his leadership. On its part, NC has accused Dahal of unilaterally breaking the ruling alliance without citing any substantial reason. 

Sharing decisions taken at the NC’s parliamentary party meeting on Thursday, Nepali Congress chief whip Ramesh Lekhak accused the Maoist Center of breaking the ruling coalition, though the Congress had always remained committed to it. 

Lekhak recalled that Congress had formed alliances with various parties for the protection of the constitution and consolidation of democracy, and contested elections accordingly, hinting at the possibility of such alliance in the coming days. 

The meeting held under NC president and parliamentary party leader Sher Bahadur Deuba discussed the evolving political scenario and decided to withdraw support given to Maoist Chair Dahal during the formation of the erstwhile government. 

Speaking in the Parliament, Lekhak said Dahal was betraying political parties repeatedly, in a pointer to stressed relations between the erstwhile coalition partners after the formation of a new ruling dispensation.

The CPN (Maoist Center) has withdrawn its support to the Lumbini Province government.

A meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) Lumbini Province Parliamentary Party decided to pull out its support to Chief Minister Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary who is from the Nepali Congress.

According to Indrajeet Tharu, the party's chief whip for the province, the party on Wednesday submitted a letter to the Chief Minister's Secretariat informing later about its withdrawal of the support.

In the 87-member Lumbini PA, 86 lawmakers represent 10 political parties and one is an independent. The Maoist Center has 11 members.

The development is the ripple of the latest change in political equation in the national politics with the ruling Maoist Center on Monday deciding to break its alliance with the Nepali Congress to form a new coalition government with the support of the CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party and others.

The CPN (Maoist Center) has withdrawn its support to the Sudurpaschim province government.

A meeting of the Maoist Center Parliamentary Party this morning decided to pull out the support it had given to Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah, said the party's Province Assembly member Shiva Singh Oli.

The CPN (Maoist Center) was a partner in the government headed by the Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Shah. The CPN (Maoist Center) has 10 out of the total 53 seats in the Assembly, except the Speaker.

The Nepali Congress, which is the largest party in the Assembly, has 18 seats after the death in a road accident some months ago of one of its Assembly members from Bajhang, Prithvi Bahadur Singh.

Similarly, the CPN-UML has 10 seats, the Nagarik Unmukti Party seven seats, the CPN (Unified Socialist) four, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) one and an independent member in the Province Assembly.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party and the CPN (Unified Socialist), the present ruling coalition partners, have not decided till this afternoon whether they will remain in the government or not.

Before this, Chief Minister Shah on Tuesday relieved the Social Development Minister Jhapat Bahadur Saud, the Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment Ramesh Singh Dhami and the Minister of State for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment, Gitadevi Mal, representing the CPN (Maoist Centre) in the government, from their posts.

A day after the formation of a new coalition, two ministers of the CPN (Maoist Center) have been removed from the Gandaki Province government.

Surendra Raj Pandey, who was appointed as the Chief Minister of the Gandaki Province from the Nepali Congress, removed Minister for Social Development Sushila Simkhanda and Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport Ramesh Bahadur Jugjali.

A source said that Chief Minister Pandey removed two ministers of the CPN (Maoist Center).

Earlier on Monday, in a dramatic turn of events, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ditched his key coalition partner, Nepali Congress, to form a new alliance with the main opposition, CPN-UML.

The current coalition between the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center) has collapsed.

With the collapse of the coalition, it is almost certain that a new equation will be formed between the CPN-UML and the Maoist Center.

CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will reshuffle the Cabinet and form a new one today itself.

“The Prime Minister will reshuffle the Cabinet and form a new one today itself if he wants,” Gyawali said.

The ruling CPN (Maoist Center) has assigned its leaders with the responsibilities to carry out the party's jobs in provinces.

The Standing Committee (SC) meeting convened at the party office in Parisdanda today finalized the division of the responsibilities for province in-charges and deputy in-charges.

Haribol Gajurel has been given the responsibility of Koshi Province in-charge while Sabitra Kumar Kafle as its deputy in-charge. Similarly, Leelamani Pokharel has been assigned in-charge in Madhes Province and Bishow Nath Shah as deputy in-charge

Party Vice-Chairperson and Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota has been entrusted with responsibility of Bagmati Province in-charge while Dinanath Sharma has been chosen as the Gandaki Province in-charge with Hariraj Adhikari as deputy-in-charge.

Chakrapani Khanal has been appointed Lumbini Province in-charge while Kul Prasad KC as deputy in-charge. Likewise, Kali Bahadur Malla is the Karnali Province's in-charge.

Likewise, Girirajmani Pokharel is the in-charge of Sudurpaschim Province with Bina Magar as the deputy in-charge, shared Spokesperson Sapkota.

The meeting also appointed Pampha Bhusal as the in-charge of Prabash Province Committee (Middle East), Laxman Panta as in-charge for India and TB Pathak as deputy in-charge, and Surendra Kumar Karki as in-charge for Europe-America Committee.

Hitman Shakya is chosen as the in-charge of the Special Province Committee and Yesodha Subedi as deputy in-charge. Deputy in-charges for some provinces are yet to be decided, said Spokesperson Sapkota.

The meeting also decided that the people's representatives of the federal, provincial and local levels will continue to discharge their duties as per the elected responsibilities.

The meeting also changed the date for launching the party's Terai Madhes National Awareness Campaign from March 14 to March 28 citing lack of time for preparations, said Sapkota.

Similarly, the Himal-Pahad-Tarai (Mountain-Hill-Terai) National Unity campaign would be launched from April 27.

The meeting also discussed contemporary political issues such concerning loan shark victims and dairy farmers among others and drew the attention of the government to resolve them convulsively, said Sapkota.

Meanwhile, party's Deputy General-Secretary Janardan Sharma has expressed his note of dissent on the division of responsibilities in the Standing Committee meeting. 

He expressed his reservations with the proposed division of responsibilities. 

He argued, "The division of responsibilities is not in accordance with the purpose of the formation of the party. 

It seems that the responsibilities were delegated with the hangover of the legislation session."

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided not to change its name immediately.

The statute convention has also decided not to change its election symbol.

During a group discussion, there was a suggestion to change the party name and election symbol.

Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that a decision to change the party name and election symbol will be made at a specific time.

He was of the opinion that the party name can be changed in case of unity among many communist parties.

Party spokesperson Agni Sapkota also said that the party name and election symbol can be changed as per the need.

Similarly, the Maoist Center has decided to elect 11 office bearers and 199 Central Committee members through a directly elected system.

Sapkota said that committees will be formed from higher level to lower level from now onwards.

He said that the statute convention has become a good base for the General Convention.

Spokesperson Sapkota said that preparations are underway to hold the General Convention within a year if the date is not announced.

Likewise, the Maoist has decided to form province level committees in India, mid-east and across the globe.

Sapkota said that the Moist will conduct a postal highway-centered campaign of Tarai along with a reform campaign.

CPN (Maoist Center) has finalized the candidates for the National Assembly (NA) election scheduled for January 25.

A meeting of the party's office bearers convened at the Prime Minister's official residence, Baluwatar today took a decision to this effect.

According to party secretary Devendra Paudel, Champadevi Karki (Koshi Province), Shree Krishna Adhikari, Manarupa Sharma (Gandaki), Jhakku Subedi (Lumbini), Bishnu Bishwakarma (Karnali) and Renu Chand (Sudur Paschim) have been picked as the party candidates for the upper house election.

Earlier, a meeting of the coalition partners held in Baluwatar this morning agreed on joint candidacies for the upper house elections, NC leader Ramesh Lekhak said.

As per the agreement, the NC will have 10 candidates followed by six from the CPN (Maoist Center), two from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from the Janata Samajbadi Party. The nomination for the remaining one seat shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

With the elections scheduled for January 25, today marks the publication of the voter’s name list, and tomorrow is the day for registrations of candidates.

The final list of candidates is set to be published on January 11.

CPN (Maoist Center) has postponed the Kathmandu-centric demonstration scheduled for November 8.

The Maoist Center said that it had to postpone the demonstration due to the earthquake in Jajarkot and Rukum.

Earlier on November 5, a meeting of the Maoist Center had decided to stage a demonstration in Kathmandu to protect and strengthen the federal democratic republic, national sovereignty and against regression.

At a time when the government's ruling party, the Maoist Center, is being widely criticized for announcing to stage a demonstration in Kathmandu, the party has postponed the program for now citing the earthquake among other reasons.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) had said that the party leading the government cannot stage the demonstration.