Don't think of PM post
With murmurs of a revolt getting louder in his party, Maoist chief Prachanda on Monday met his long-time associate-turned-rival Baburam Bhattarai, and asked him not to stake claim for the PM's post when the National Unity government is formed.
According to sources in the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), Prachanda invited Bhattarai to his residence and asked him not to project himself as the PM candidate as that may cause fissures in the party.
Bhattarai, backed by at least half-a-dozen senior politburo and central committee members, has been insisting that the UCPN-M find an alternative to Prachanda for the PM post, if other parties, mainly the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, are comfortable with that.
His line is being taken as a challenge to Prachanda's leadership in the party.
Prachanda's meeting with Bhattarai came in the midst of a damaging campaign against the latter within the party, with a section owing allegiance to Prachanda calling him an 'Indian agent'.
There are no indications yet that Bhattarai has given up his ambition as senior leaders have asked him not to "succumb to Prachanda's pressure any more", party sources said.
Meanwhile, Prachanda has claimed that he was forced to resign from the post of prime minister.
According to him he was forced to resign because he tried to find out the whereabouts of the people who forcibly disappeared during the decade long insurgency.
Speaking at a program here on Monday, Prachanda said that the Maoist led government had initiated process to find out the position and whereabouts of the disappeared people but they did not succeed.
Nepalnews quoted Prachanda as, saying that he wanted to bring to book those responsible for forcibly disappearing the people and also democratise the Nepal Army. These tasks were incomplete as he was forced to resign.
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