Madhav becomes president the way Prachanda does – Online Khabar

Kathmandu, June 20. The 10th National Congress of the United Socialists continued with the old leadership. On Thursday evening, Chairman Jarnath Khanal announced that Madhav Kumar Nepal had been elected president unopposed.

Former Prime Minister Khanal, who called himself a respected leader, announced that Ganshyam Bhussar had been elected as the general secretary unopposed. As the chairman, Khanal asked the representatives present to approve the announced list.

After the delegates applauded and expressed their approval, Khanal proposed more agenda items. According to him, the remaining leadership team and central committee members will now be decided by the secretariat meeting. Khanal announced: “The secretariat will decide the remaining officials and central committee members based on their abilities, qualifications and geographical regions.”

He also asked for approval of the announcement to terminate the positions of the remaining public officials and central committee members. The hall also erupted in applause. But this time, party secretary Ramkumari Jankri on the stage raised his hand to express his disagreement. Jankri clarified through the social network Twitter that although the positions of the presidium and general secretary had been agreed without objection, the presidium had no authority for the remaining positions and central committee members.

But Kanal could not hear his dissenting opinions in the closed chamber. Kanal moved on quickly. Another announced, “Now you don’t have to sit here, the secretariat will work hard to complete the committee’s work.”

In other words, Karnal ended the five-day general meeting. According to other leaders, the general meeting held in Kamaradi since June 16 ended with an incomplete election of the leadership. “The original leadership was not opposed and the remaining things will happen now. But the general meeting is over,” said Deputy Secretary General Prakash Jhawara.

He said that the existing committee and leadership will continue to be active until the new committee is formed, as there is a constitution for the United Socialists, and the old secretariat will choose the rest of the leadership. According to the decision of the last secretariat meeting of the United Socialist Party, this congress will elect a central committee of 299 members, including 21 officials.

However, the top leaders held discussions for days in a row, trying to declare the unopposed leadership of the Chairman, rather than letting the 1,800 delegates present at the 10th Congress decide on their own. Even as discussions on various reports were going on at Pragya Bhavan Kamaladi, the leaders tried to go unopposed in the leadership.

On Wednesday night, after all reports were approved, discussions continued until 1 a.m. to select a unanimous leadership. Discussions resumed this morning and an agreement was reached in the late afternoon.

Ghanshyam Bhusar, who claimed to hold the post of President, agreed to serve as General Secretary again. Sources said that when Bhusar stepped down as President, his position was that the posts of Senior Vice President and Secretary General should be held by the person he said he was. Madhav Nepal agreed to this.

According to the agreement, Madhav was to be the chairman, Ghanshyam the senior vice president and Prakash Jwala the secretary general. But except for Ghanshyam, all other close leaders gave Madhav Nepal his all except for the fact that they could not accept Ghanshyam as the general secretary.

After this, Madhav Nepal backed out of the previous agreement and held discussions with Bhusar for another agreement. Sources said it has been agreed to reduce the powers of the chairman and increase the powers of the secretary general. The post of secretary general is also an executive post. But it has been agreed to create an executive secretary general with more powers,” sources said.

The then UML had done such a practice in the past. Due to the unity of the then CPN-M and MLA, Manmohan Adhikari was the president and Madan Bhandari was the executive general secretary of the UML in 2046. In other words, after Janat Khanal, 71-year-old Madhav Nepal once again became the president of the party after celebrating Ghanshyam Bhussar.

Leaders close to Madhav say it is necessary. “Our situation is not normal. There are a large number of workers who want Madhav Nepal to join a party like the UML, which was formed after the insurgency,” said Rajan Rai, a politburo member.

The Congress also proposed a line of changing the leadership. They believed that by leaving Madhav Jalnath, who had been in political leadership for five decades, the party’s appeal would increase.

Madhav, who was prime minister, led the then UML for 14 years and Jalnath for 12. They believe that by leaving Nepal and Karnal at the same time and letting Ganshyam take over as leader, pressure on other parties will also increase.

But the message of leadership shift was not meant to reach other parties, but the UPS had learnt a lesson from the 8th Maoist Centre Congress held in Kamaradi two and a half years ago.

32 years later, Prachanda approved Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s leadership at the Maoist Congress held in December 2078. Prachanda presented the list of central members, including himself, for approval in a closed-door meeting hall. The meeting applauded and approved. Prachanda was responsible for appointing the remaining officials but has not been able to prepare the entire committee so far.

An almost similar scene was seen at the 10th Congress of the Communist Party of Nepal held in November 2078. However, for formality reasons, votes were cast for unopposed posts such as the president of the UML.

Bhim Rawal nominated himself as the chairman against KP Sharma Oli. Oli won the chairmanship by a huge margin and Bhim Rawal had to sit out due to the competition for the chairmanship.

But democracy in practice is not seen even within the USS, which is divided among its own party, accusing Oli of running the party in an authoritarian manner. Political analyst Jhalak Subedi said the congress did not convey any warm message.

All parties have old leaders. He said people had expected Ghanshyam Bhusar to stir up this chaos in the UPP but by continuing to work with old leaders, the message is that Ghanshyam Bhusar and the youth of the party have been defeated.

He said the Congress ended with the approval of people who have been in the leadership since the Panchayat period, which further disappointed the people. “Forces that want change are growing. But showing old faces under multiple excuses increases the frustration of citizens,” Subedi said.

Some leaders of the United Socialist Party say the party still has room to improve its appeal. ‘The old leadership is over. The elections produced a respected leader and general secretary. But the rest of the big structure must be ready,’ said Ashish Ghimire, a central committee member. ‘There is still a chance to make other officials and the central committee younger.’