Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: CPN (Maoist Center) has nominated two leaders to serve as Vice Chairpersons in its executive committee. During a meeting of the party’s standing committee, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal nominated former Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota and former Minister Pampha Bhusal to the position.
With these appointments, the total number of office-bearers in the executive committee has now risen to 22. The party structure consists of one chairman, one senior vice chairperson, three vice chairpersons, one general secretary, six deputy general secretaries, nine secretaries, and one treasurer.
The party has a 44-member standing committee and a 386-member executive committee.
According to Madav Sapkota, a standing committee member of the party, the team of office-bearers is now complete. “Pampha Bhusal was appointed as vice chairpreson due to her desire to serve in the position,” he added.
It took the Maoist Center over a year and a half to finalize its team of office-bearers. In June, the party was finally able to fill the positions of Senior Vice Chairman and Vice Chairman, with Narayan Kaji Shrestha being appointed as the Senior Vice Chairman and Krishna Bahadur Mahara as the Vice Chairman. Dahal left other posts vacant as both Barshaman Pun and Janardan Sharma were vying for the position of General Secretary. In order to resolve the issue, Dahal named them both as Deputy General Secretaries and nominated Dev Prasad Gurung to the post of General Secretary.
Prior to the party’s general convention, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had stated that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) would have 15 office-bearers. However, due to pressure to accommodate various party leaders, the number has now increased to 22.
Due to the competition between Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Krishna Bahadur Mahara for the position of Vice Chairman, Dahal had to create the position of Senior Vice Chairman to accommodate Shrestha. He also appointed Mahara as the party spokesperson.
Despite the appointment, Krishna Bahadur Mahara expressed dissatisfaction with the decision and stated that he is ‘not suitable’ for the role of spokesperson. This led to a crisis of confidence between Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Mahara. However, Dahal stood firm on his decision to appoint Mahara as the party’s spokesperson.
Due to difficulties in nominating leaders to various party departments, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has decided to revive the old structure of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center). This means that leaders will lead the departments that they were in charge of prior to the general convention.
