UML No Need to Wait for 084 – Khabar Online

Kathmandu, June 25. Nepal Communist Party-Unified Marxist-Leninist Chairman KP Sharma Oli has agreed with the Nepali Congress to serve as Prime Minister for the first two years and has intensified the party’s activities.

Oli had convened a secretariat meeting on June 18, a day after agreeing on power cooperation with Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, to apprise him of the agreement reached with Deuba and the reasons for severing ties with Prime Minister Prachanda.

The UML had called on Prachanda to resign in the same meeting. The UML withdrew its support on June 19 after Prachanda decided to face the parliament. After the UML’s exit, the Ashok Rai-led Janata Party (JSP) also withdrew its support.

Prime Minister Prachanda, who is in the minority due to the withdrawal of the UML and Jasper, will open the way for the formation of a new government if he fails to win the parliamentary vote of confidence on June 28. That is, after three years, Oli is ready to lead the country again. Thakur Gaur, a member of the UML Politburo, said: “We decided to carry out the 084 mission with the aim of forming a single majority government, but due to the situation in the country, the UML must take the lead.”

Oli was relieved of his post and returned to Balkot when the Supreme Court authorized the appointment of Deuba as prime minister three years ago on June 28, 2078. At that time, Oli had announced that he would return to Singhadarbar with a mission.

But in the November 2079 elections, Oli was announced as the future prime minister and the UML was relegated to second place. After winning 42 fewer seats than in the 2074 elections, the party was reduced to 79 seats and the UML adopted Mission-084 resolution.

The UML’s line for the resolution is clear – to obtain a single majority in the upcoming 084 parliamentary elections and lead the government.

Because of his political background, his chances of becoming prime minister in this parliament were slim. Therefore, the UML prioritized organizational building, with the goal of gaining a single majority in 2008. It began with a two-month “Mission Grassroots” campaign starting in February 2079.

Mission Grassroots was carried out by the UML to identify the issues. The entire party was involved in the campaign. In order to implement the recommendations received in the campaign, a one-year special campaign was launched from June 2080.

The campaign is still going on and leaders are being sent to different districts with a wide range of responsibilities. “We are in the final stages of a year-long campaign. During this period, it was concluded that the UML is organised for the first time in its history,” said Vishal Bhattarai, another politburo member.

He claimed that he was able to create an organization that not only regained the lost rhythm but also functioned as per the current times. Bhattarai said, “Membership renewal and records have been restored to normal, the organization has been organized, from the people’s organization to the geographical sub-committee, the elected leadership has arrived.”

With the support of the Mission-084 movement, the UML held congresses from state to district level during this period. Most provinces were ahead in terms of delegate split.

Almost all the people’s organisations have seen a new leadership. “It seems that the new leadership is coming from most of the district congresses,” said Dr. Bhishma Adhikari, secretary of the central office.

UML has already conducted Madhyapahari Sankalp Yatra with Mission-084 and is preparing another Yatra centered on Madhesh. All these activities are being conducted by the UML with an aim to lead the government to a single majority in the upcoming elections.

Oli himself attended as many events as possible and it is easy to understand that the UML prioritizes the upcoming elections.

This does not mean that the UML did not intend to enter the government during this parliament. On December 10, 2078, the UML moved towards the government by supporting Prachanda as the Prime Minister. But this alliance collapsed within 42 days.

On February 21, the UML again separated Prachanda from the Congress-led alliance. But this time it was Oli who betrayed Prachanda and agreed to share power with the Congress (midnight on June 17).

UML publicity minister Rajendra Gautam believes that the two major parties must come together to resolve the national crisis and hence a new equation must be worked out. “For the sake of political stability, the constitution should be reviewed. For this, the Congress and the UML must come together,” he said.

Ferio Roadmap

Contrary to the view that the two major parties in a parliamentary democracy should not form a government together, the activities of the UML leaders have changed since Oli assumed the office of prime minister with the support of the Congress Party.

Party president Bhattarai said, “After the party president became the prime minister, we had to act aggressively on two fronts. Now it is our responsibility to make the government successful in achieving the objectives of Mission 084.”

Bhattarai said that after Oli assumed office as prime minister, the UML line has been circulated to support the government. According to him, meetings of all 31 units of the UML are underway. The party units will work to support the ministries. Preparations for the meeting are underway,” Bhattarai said.

Oli is in continuous discussions with party leaders to make the government under his leadership successful. On June 23, Oli convened a parliamentary party meeting to hold a briefing on the obligations of the new government.

The party secretariat held another meeting. The meeting, which was scheduled for today, will be held tomorrow (June 26) as the preparations have not been completed. According to the leaders, Oli insisted that the objectives of Mission 084 should not be weakened under the leadership of the government.

Publicity chief Gautam said, “When difficult situations arise in the country, it is our responsibility to form the government because the major political parties have to deal with it,” “but the party’s main focus is Mission-084.” Building a strong party is the only way forward.

Oli informed the leaders that since the November 079 general elections failed to produce the desired results, the United Marxist-Leninist Party, which calls itself Mission-084, must lead the government.

“We helped Prachanda not once but many times to lead the government. But since he always believed in deception, a situation arose where he had to meet the Congress,” said a leader who was briefed by Oli.

After returning from New Delhi to attend PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, Oli informed that PM Prachanda must meet the Congress as he started formulating a policy to topple the UML from power.

A senior UML leader said: “Our president asked a UML minister to attend the talks with Modi, but Prachanda ignored the request, just like in the policy, program and budget. Instead, he started talking about the “national consensus government”.

The leader said that it was only after Prachanda offered power cooperation to Deuba that the door of cooperation between the Congress and the UML opened. As the author Ramesh said, those who have been cheated many times feel that they will be cheated again. After that, we discussed the issue of why the major political parties cannot meet,” he said.

The two sides also agreed to review the constitution when a new government is formed to replace Prachanda. Maoist leaders have begun to promote it as an attack on the constitution.

UML leaders said they were also prepared to counter possible attacks by smaller parties, including the Maoists. “The Maoists can propagate this government against political achievements. We are aware of this,” said Vishal Bhattarai, a member of the politburo. “We have no agenda of proportional inclusion, republic, secularism, federalism, etc.”

But he said the new government could choose to raise the threshold. This could create an opportunity for the Maoists to close the front with the help of smaller parties.

“If the Maoists lead a third party, that would also be in line with the UML plan. It would be great if the UML, Congress and Maoist Front contested in a three-way contest in the 2084 elections,” Bhattarai said.