The 11th General Convention of the UML began on Saturday. Chairman KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the convention at a function organized in Sallaghari, Bhaktapur. With the start of the convention, a tug-of-war for leadership has begun in the UML.

The election schedule for the leadership selection will be made public during the closed session to be held at Bhrikutimandap on Sunday. Ishwor Pokharel is preparing to file his candidacy against Oli for the presidency. Both parties are doing their homework on forming separate panels.

This time, the size of the central committee, including office bearers, has been reduced. That is why Chairman Oli is having a hard time managing the leaders of the establishment who aspire to be office bearers. Since Oli's decision will be 'final', most of the establishment's aspirants are in a position to accept it. The Pokharel group, on the other hand, is planning to take the initiative to bring the leaders who could not be included in the establishment's panel to their side.

UML currently has one president, three vice presidents, one general secretary, three deputy general secretaries and seven secretaries. The central committee is scheduled to have 251 members. Chairman Oli had prepared to increase the number of vice-chairmen and secretaries to five and nine respectively, and to make the central committee 301 members through the amendment of the statute. For this, a proposal to amend the statute was discussed in the secretariat meeting on Friday. Senior vice-chairman Pokharel opposed it.

Deputy Secretary General Pradeep Gyawali said that the decision was made to implement the current statute considering the supremacy of the statutory general convention. 'There was an argument that increasing the number of office bearers and central committee members would make it easier to manage many leaders.' But the decision was made to accept the supremacy of the recently held statutory general convention,' he said, 'Although many qualified leaders are contenders for the office bearers, I think the management will be done easily.'

According to a leader close to Oli, there are more than 50 aspirants for 15 office bearers. Oli is seen in the most complicated leader management for the general secretary and vice-chairman positions. Prithvi Subba Gurung and Pradeep Gyawali, who are currently deputy general secretaries, are vying for the post of general secretary. Oli wants to re-appoint Shankar Pokharel as general secretary. In that case, Gurung and Gyawali will have to be promoted to vice president among the three vice presidents. Then comes the challenge of managing the current vice presidents Ram Bahadur Thapa and Guru Baral. Another vice president, Bishnu Poudel, also wants to re-appoint in the same post.

According to a leader close to Oli, another option is to retain Poudel, Thapa and Baral as vice presidents and re-appoint Gurung, Gyawali and another deputy general secretary, Bishnu Rimal, in the same post. Chhabilal Bishwakarma, Padma Aryal and Raghubir Mahaseth, who are currently secretaries, are contenders for the post of deputy general secretary. If Bishwakarma, Aryal and Mahaseth are re-appoint in the post of deputy general secretary, they will have to settle for being secretaries. Apart from that, more than a dozen are aspiring for the secretary post.

Oli is trying to make Mahesh Basnet, who supported him in times of trouble, the secretary post. Khagaraj Adhikari, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Kiran Gurung, Kashinath Adhikari, Sherdhan Rai, Rajan Bhattarai, Agni Kharel, Rajendra Gautam, Hikmat Karki, Surya Thapa, Julie Mahato, Jwala Sah, Neeraj Acharya, Narulal Chaudhary, Khimlal Bhattarai, Padam Giri, Vishal Bhattarai and other leaders are also aspiring for the secretary post. Apart from the current office bearers, most of the 23-member standing committee members are aspiring for the secretary post.

Vice-chairmen Yubaraj Gyawali and Ashtalakshmi Shakya, who have opened up for Pokharel, do not want to repeat themselves. It has not been decided whether Secretary Gokarna Bista will file a candidacy for the vice-chairman or any other post. The establishment party is preparing to nominate Vice President Surendra Pandey and Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai for General Secretary. Preparations are underway to nominate Binda Pandey, Parashuram Meghi Gurung, Thakur Gaire, Surendra Manandhar, Rachana Khadka, Arun Nepal, Purushottam Poudel, Jhapat Rawal, and Ushakiran Timsena for Deputy General Secretary.

Gokul Baskota has said that he will nominate a separate candidate for Secretary, but he is in discussions with the Pokharel group. The Pokharel party also understands that leaders who were not able to become official candidates from the establishment party may come to their side. That is why they have opposed the amendment to the statute.

Leader Pushpa Dhungana, who is also the Secretary of the Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Department, said that there is no problem with the principle within the UML. ‘The problem within the UML is how to handle the incidents of 23 and 24 Bhadra and how to manage the party, there is no problem with the principle,’ he said, ‘The recent political events have led to a situation where professional people should also be given a place to face the country’s prosperity and economic challenges. The party should think about that too.’

Demand to increase youth representation

Due to the political situation after the Gen-G movement, there is a voice within the party to increase the representation of leaders aged around 40 in the office bearers, Politburo and Central Committee. There are about 400 youth under the age of 40 among the general convention delegates. One representative has been selected for youth under the age of 40 from 165 constituencies.

Central member Rachana Khadka said that although there has been a demand for youth representation for a long time, there has been no significant representation. ‘After the Gen-G movement, it has been said that the attraction of youth in politics has decreased. This is a matter to think about. There should be a youth ‘cluster’ in the Central Committee. The leaders currently leading the UML were at the top level at the age of 30, 35. But now the youth representation in the party is very weak,' she said, 'This general convention should arrange for youth representation in the place where policy decisions are made. Representatives should choose youth with discretion.'

Another central member Bishnu Rijal said that the 'jam' of the party organization should be opened and opportunities should be given to the young generation. 'It is necessary to open the jam seen in the leadership. If that happens, the young generation will have a chance to come,' he said.

Rukumpur party president Leelamani Gautam said that 'clusters' should be allocated for youth in the central committee and they should be represented on a provincial basis. ‘If there is a 10 percent cluster for youth in the overall committee, it would be better to select youth by making a quota according to the province,’ he said, ‘There should be a situation where youth with experience in geography and understanding party politics come to the central committee.’

Former president of ANNFSU Samik Badal said that the party would be dynamic if the proportion of the overall youth population participated in the central committee. Former vice president of ANNFSU Kalpana Waiba said that they have made a demand to the party leadership to increase youth representation.

Deuba and Dahal wish each other well over the phone

Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Nepali Communist Party Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal did not attend the opening ceremony of the UML general convention. Deuba sent acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dahal sent leader Dev Gurung to extend their best wishes for the general convention. Chairman Oli had telephoned Deuba and Dahal to come to the general convention. Deuba and Dahal had extended their best wishes for the success of the general convention over the telephone.

While delivering his inaugural address, Chairman Oli said that UML will not run away from the elections if the government works to create a peaceful environment without taking revenge on political parties and leaders. He said that the UML has made the restoration of the House of Representatives its main agenda as the government is trying to confuse the country in the name of elections by using fear, pressure and revenge.

If the UML is to be freed from the shadow of fear, pressure and revenge, no one would have thought that UML would run away from the elections, but what kind of elections are being held now? Only the talk of elections is being held, to confuse the country: Oli ‘Our view is that elections should be held in a peaceful environment through democratic systems and methods. If the UML is to be freed from the shadow of fear, pressure and revenge, no one would have thought that UML would run away from the elections,’ Oli said, ‘But what kind of elections are being held now? No, elections are not being held.’ There is only talk of elections, to confuse the country. That is why our stance is that the House of Representatives should be restored.'

Oli said that they have raised the demand for amending the constitution with the consent of the parties so that the demands of Gen-G are addressed by bringing the constitution and the democratic system into 'leak' and going for the restoration of the House of Representatives by going to the elections. He has also appealed to other political parties to cooperate in this. 'The constitution should be amended through the parliament. As the caretaker Prime Minister, I had shown the constitutional path after 24 Bhadra that the parliament should not be dissolved. But the country was taken in the opposite direction. A government was formed from outside. A recommendation was made to dissolve the House of Representatives by an unauthorized person,' Oli said, 'The House of Representatives, which was dissolved due to an unconstitutional recommendation, should be restored. We will let it happen.'

Oli also said that the government did not want elections. ‘If there was a government that wanted elections, it would have won the trust of all parties. It would have shown transparency in its decisions. It would have created an environment for parties to participate in the elections. It would have created an atmosphere of fearlessness. It would have brought back looted weapons. It would have brought back escaped prisoners,’ he said, ‘but the government is doing things like holding media trials, instilling fear and threats against political parties, withholding passports of leaders and imposing restrictions on their residence. Does this increase pressure and terror or does it protect voting?’

The incidents of 23 and 24 Bhadra are not just a demonstration of hysteria and dissatisfaction, but a well-planned conspiracy to break the backbone of the state. The demands raised by Gen-G could have been addressed through Parliament: Oli Oli commented that the incidents of 23 and 24 Bhadra are not just a demonstration of hysteria and dissatisfaction, but a well-planned conspiracy to break the backbone of the state. ‘The demands raised by Gen-G could have been addressed by the parliament. The parliament should not have been dissolved. There has been a serious conspiracy to destroy the federal democratic system achieved through seven decades of hard struggle and push the country towards emptiness and anarchy,’ he said. ‘No one disagreed with the demand for open social media, an end to corruption, and good governance. These were the agendas that we ourselves have been raising and implementing for years. We only wanted to regulate social media within the legal framework, we had no intention of closing it down.’

Oli compared the incident of 24 Bhadra to the incident in Mahabharata where the five Pandavas were locked in a target house and set on fire. ‘At that time when the entire system was being destroyed, we also went to a safe place,’ he said. ‘Whom did history blame?’ Duryodhana and Sakuni who set fire to the fire or the Pandavas who emerged from the fire?'

The Congress, which was in the ruling coalition before the Gen-G movement, has given the election as its first priority. While extending its best wishes to the general convention, Congress acting president Khadka said that his party is in favor of the election. Noting that the issue of the restoration of the House of Representatives is pending in the court, he opined that the constitution can be brought into line only through the election. 'But it is the responsibility of the government and the Election Commission to create a peaceful and fear-free environment for the election,' he said.

Khadka also said that an atmosphere of fear is being created during the election due to the weapons looted from the police and the escaped prisoners on 23 and 24 Bhadra. 'It is the government's job to ensure an environment where everyone can participate in the election. But are the government's decisions and activities focused on holding the election and creating a fear-free environment?' He said, 'We are serious about this.' The government should also be serious.'