Miscellaneous
Nepal, Oli set for ballot clash
Two days before a vote to elect the party's new leadership, the chairman hopefuls of CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal & KP Sharma Oli, made effort at their unanimous election.Bhadra Sharma
Nepal and Oli on Saturday asked each other to pull out of the race for the sake of party unity. In a meeting at a Kalimati-based hotel, Oli bluntly refused to backtrack while Nepal remained silent, sources said.
An election for leadership selection is scheduled for Monday evening, with 2,176 representatives from across the country and abroad casting ballots.
Oli asked Nepal to support him this time around, arguing that he had sacrificed several chances in the past. Nepal, however, also requested Oli to back him without responding to Oli's request. "Oli requested Nepal to support him but the latter remained silent," said an aide close to Oli.
Nepal confirmed his meeting with Oli as well as Deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam. "Yes, I met Oli and Bamdevji separately. I requested them to support me," Nepal told the Post.
Both the panels are yet to make public the names of their officer bearer candidates. If the consensus bid fails, Nepal and Oli will fight for the party chief while outgoing Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal is out of the fray.
Nepal is preparing to field former finance minister Surendra Pandey for the general secretary's post. Outgoing Secretary Yubaraj Gyawali, Asta Laxmi Shakya and Bhim Rawal are likely to be fielded as vice-chairpersons.
Oli supporters have already announced their candidates for the key positions. The faction has decided to field Bam Dev Gautam and Bidhya Bhandari as vice-chairpersons and Ishwor Pokharel as general secretary.