Two days before a vote to elect the party's new leadership, the chairman hopefuls of CPN-UML
, former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Parliamentary Party
leader KP Sharma Oli, made an effort at their unanimous election.
Nepal and Oli on Saturday asked each other to pull out of the race for
the sake of party unity. In a meeting at a Kalimati-based hotel, Oli
bluntly refused to backtrack while Nepal remained silent, sources said.
An election for leadership selection is scheduled for Monday evening,
with 2,176 representatives from across the country and abroad casting
ballots.
Oli asked Nepal to support him this time around, arguing that he had
sacrificed several chances in the past. Nepal, however, also requested
Oli to back him without responding to Oli's request. "Oli requested
Nepal to support him but the latter remained silent," said an aide close
to Oli.
Nepal confirmed his meeting with Oli as well as Deputy Prime Minister
Bamdev Gautam. "Yes, I met Oli and Bamdevji separately. I requested them
to support me," Nepal told the Post.
Both the panels are yet to make public the names of their officer
bearer candidates. If the consensus bid fails, Nepal and Oli will fight
for the party chief while outgoing Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal is out of
the fray.
Nepal is preparing to field former finance minister Surendra Pandey for
the general secretary's post. Outgoing Secretary Yubaraj Gyawali, Asta
Laxmi Shakya and Bhim Rawal are likely to be fielded as
vice-chairpersons.
Oli supporters have already announced their candidates for the key
positions. The faction has decided to field Bam Dev Gautam and Bidhya
Bhandari as vice-chairpersons and Ishwor Pokharel as general secretary.
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