National
House notified about new party
The House of Representatives was notified on Friday about establishment of the Nepal Communist Party through a merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) on Thursday.The House of Representatives was notified on Friday about establishment of the Nepal Communist Party through a merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) on Thursday.
Khaga Raj Adhikari, chief whip of the erstwhile UML that was dissolved ahead of unification with the Maoist Centre, notified Parliament about the new party.
NCP Co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal took the first seat in the House on ruling lawmakers’ side, signalling his rank in the party hierarchy. Seat for another Co-chairman KP Sharma Oli, who leads the government, is in the separate row designated for the Cabinet members. Senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is after Oli and Dahal in the hierarchy, was seated next to Dahal.
Nepal’s rank in the UML was third, after Jhala Nath Khanal. In the nine-member central secretariat formed on Thursday, Nepal was placed ahead of Khanal. NCP sources said Nepal was rewarded for his contribution to the unification process. Khanal, meanwhile, was in China when the party unification process reached its final stage.
Senior leaders of the newly established party are doing homework to induct more members to the central committee. The party has a 441-member central committee—241 from the UML and 200 from the Maoist Centre. As the UML had 200 central members, it needs to induct 41 more. Dahal will have to decide almost all the members from his faction as the role of most key Maoist leaders was not defined in the old party.
After forming the 45-member Standing Committee and the central committee, the party will start unifying lower level committees and sister wings. Oli said earlier that the task would take up to three months.
NCP General Secretary Bishnu Poudel said the central committee would be ready within a couple of days. “Several layers of party committees have already started their merger process,” he said.