Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML leader Ishwar Pokhrel has urged party chairperson KP Sharma Oli to give up party leadership with dignity pave the way for the election of new leadership.
Pokhrel wrote a letter addressed to Oli, informing him that he would be unable to attend the party’s Central Committee meeting as his wife, Meera Pokhrel, is undergoing treatment for cancer and other health problems.
In the letter dated Monday, he said the party’s rules, procedures and institutional decision-making processes have been weakening, making leadership transition an immediate necessity.
Pokhrel argued that the party’s ongoing “reorganization, transition and transformation” should not be centered on an individual but should encompass its ideology, procedures, organization, leadership, working style and decision-making process as a whole.
Stating that the UML considers People’s Multiparty Democracy its guiding principle, Pokhrel said the party needs to further strengthen its policies, procedures, structures, and conduct related to checks and balances. He also said collective ownership and a sense of belonging in party decisions have weakened, affecting the relationship between the party and the people.
“These issues are related to the ideology, principles, organizational conduct and working style adopted by the UML,” he wrote in the letter. “They must be viewed and understood with the same level of importance.”
On the ongoing discussion on party reorganization, Pokhrel said the party must follow established rules and procedures during the reorganization; everyone must accept decisions made through due process; the reorganization must be pursued collectively in the interests of the party and the movement; and criticism and self-criticism should not be rejected outright.
“Let us all abandon the attitude that ‘the party cannot function without me’ or ‘I alone am the supreme authority,’” Pokhrel wrote.
He also questioned the weakening of critical thinking within the party. In an apparent reference to Oli, he said many leaders and cadres who had played important roles in building the party in the past have become inactive.
“Have you ever thought about why so many comrades who carry such a long history of the movement and have played important roles in building the party have gradually become inactive?” he asked Oli. “Either you have to speak in support, or you have to face a hostile attitude or become a target. Hasn’t that been the case in the meantime? Let’s look back, comrade!”
Pokhrel said that the party leadership should also accept critical voices. He said he was not seeking to weaken Oli’s leadership but wanted to create an environment in which the party could move forward creatively.
Pokhrel urged Oli to step down from the leadership with dignity and create an environment for the selection of new leadership.
“Dear comrade, you have already served as our party chair for 11 years, and in the 10 years since the promulgation of the constitution, you have served as prime minister for six years. There have been good things during your tenure, but weaknesses have also emerged,” Pokhrel wrote. “The series of weaknesses is growing. The pace of decline is increasing. I fear that if this is not stopped, there will be serious damage.”
He said such damage would affect Oli personally, the UML, Nepal’s communist movement and the country as a whole.
