Dahal ready to own up poll debacle, All senior leaders ‘to be blamed’
Dahal, however, suggested that all senior leaders of the party are to be blamed for the party's poor show in the pollls and that they should take responsibility in line with the hierarchy. As demanded by senior leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Dahal said he is ready to "self-criticise" for the election debacle.
Dahal's pacifying approach means that Bhattarai and Shrestha are not likely to submit competing political documents in the party's Central Committee (CC) meet that begins on Thursday, first after the November 19 election.
In the meeting held at the party headquarters in Perisdanda, Dahal acknowledged that the primary reason for the poll debacle was due to “internal reasons” along with “organised vote-fraud by state mechanism.”
Though party has gradually toned down its early charges of organised vote-fraud, this is the first time that party's senior leader has said that internal reason was primarily responsible for the election defeat in the party's policy-making body.
In his 20-page document, Dahal has said that he is ready to mend his working style for the party rebuilding and urged the other leaders to follow the suit.
Dahal has also said that party should not join the majority government to be formed under the leadership of the Nepali Congress or the CPN-UML. The Maoist supremo, however, said that the party could think about joining a consensus government if it helps to promulgate a new constitution within a year.
Stating that weak organisational structure was prime reason for party's defeat in the election, Dahal has proposed rebuilding the party organisations from top to down holding the special general convention of the party.
He has proposed to downsize the CC to 99 from the current 266 members and forming the party organisations through election from grassroots level.
Party senior leader Shrestha said Dahal has incorporated some key issues, including that of “national independence.” Shrestha is of the view that Dahal and Bhattarai are unnecessarily bowing down to foreign powers. “I will not present a separate document for now but implementation of the document is challenging one,” Shrestha said, adding that the issues raised by him after the November 19 election have been proved right and Dahal incorporated those issue in the document. Leaders close to Bhattarai also said though the document has not addressed all the issues they are raising, they are not going to submit a rival document. But Bhattarai will tell the CC members about his differences with Dahal, including selection of candidates under the proportional representation (PR) category.
“The document has not addressed all the issues we are raising inside the party but we will not present rival document with a view that intra-party unity should be maintained,” said Devendra Poudel, a leader close to Bhattarai. The document was presented at the meeting to solicit the suggestions of party leaders and finalise it before presenting to the party's crucial CC meet.
