Days after the ruling communist party decided to conclude the unification of its district committees, top leaders are under pressure to correct the selection of leadership in at least a dozen districts.

The decision has affected more leaders of the former Maoist Centre compared to the former CPN-UML as the party had two major leaders in its district committees—an in-charge and a convener. When the decision on Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leadership in district committees was taken, the issue of hierarchy was ignored.

In many cases, central committee members have been demoted to district chairs or secretaries and many central members appointed as district secretaries will now have to work under the members of the party’s provincial committees. In some cases, senior leaders of the district have been selected as secretaries while their juniors have become chairpersons.

Party leaders are considering allowing the leaders having such problems to resign and then fill the space with appropriate candidates.

“Party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal is for allowing them to resign and then get appropriate replacements,” said Devendra Poudel, an NCP Standing Committee member. Dahal has already urged many of them to file a letter declining their position.

A politburo member of the erstwhile Maoist Centre, Shalikram Jammarkattel, is now internal affairs and law minister of Province 3. He is also a central committee member of the unified Nepal Communist Party. He led the Maoists’ Dhading district organisation as convener before the former rebels merged with the UML more than 11 months ago. Now, as per the latest decision, he is the secretary of the NCP’s Dhading district committee.

His chairman in the district is Bhumi Tripathi, a member of the party’s provincial committee.

Asked how the problem would be resolved, Jammarkattel, a proposed politburo member, said the party may come up with a solution.

While Jammarkattel, as per Sunday’s decision, will have three responsibilities—as a  minister, a Central Committee member and the district secretary—other party leaders have been rendered jobless, and this, according to many leaders, is one of the causes of the problem.

Of the eight districts in Province 2, four party secretaries have already rejected the position. They include Bijay Prasad Mahato of Parsa, Yubaraj Bhattarai of Rautahat, Shrawan Yadav of Dhanusha and Dacharaj Wagle of Sarlahi.

Among the four, Mahato is not a central committee member but he rejected the post because the chairman selected for Parsa district committee is someone who worked as a member when he headed the district committee of the erstwhile UML.

Central committee member Dacharaj Wagle, who was selected as secretary of Sarlahi district, had rejected the position outright by organising a press meet at a hotel in Harion.

“When I first heard the name of party secretary I thought it could be some other person with the same name in the district. But after I came to know that the party had selected me for the post, I rejected it organising a press meet on Monday itself,” Wagle told the Post over the phone.

Other central leaders having similar problems include Himal Sharma of Kathmandu, Dadhiram Neupane of Rupandehi, Gopi Achhami of Morang and Dawa Tamang of Sindhupalchok.

While around a dozen former UML senior leaders of their respective districts have been “demoted” to the post of secretary, which leaders of the Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of the party claimed happened because Chairman and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was cherry-picking.

Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel of Chitwan is one. A two-time lawmaker and two-time vice-chairperson of the district, he has been selected as the party’s district secretary. Tirtha Budha of Jumla was the district chairman and had also chaired the District Development Committee.

“Since it is an ad-hoc provision, the party should now focus on institutionalising the system at the earliest,” said Bishnu Rijal, a central committee member.