Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) have initiated discussions regarding a possible unification. The three parties have established talks teams to facilitate the unification process.
Maoist Center Vice President Krishna Bahadur Mahara is leading his party’s talks team, while Beduram Bhusal of the Unified Socialist and Rejendra Shrestha of the JSP are heading their respective party teams.
The CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) have engaged in multiple discussions in the past regarding their possible unification. They had even begun studying each other’s manifestos. However, the talks had stalled for some time.
Although the three parties have informally agreed to the idea of unification, they have not yet decided whether to go for a left unity or form an alliance called the Socialist Center.
JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav is in favor of creating the Socialist Center by ditching ‘communist’ and ‘Maoist’ terminologies. However, the Maoist Center and Unified Socialist are firm in their stance of retaining ‘communist’ terminology even after the unification.
The issue of retaining ‘communist’ terminology is said to be one of the reasons that have hindered unification talks between the Maoist Center and the Nepal Socialist Party led by Baburam Bhattarai. Bhattarai has proposed to drop ‘communist’ terminology after unification, but the Maoist Center has not yet agreed to this proposal.
Govinda Chaudhary, a member of the talks team of the JSP, has stated that their team will continue to engage in discussions with the talks team of other parties. Chaudhary added that they will hold formal discussions with the Unified Socialist first and then move on to talks with other parties. “We are willing to hold talks with any party that shares similar ideologies to ours, not just the Maoist Center,” he added.
Similarly, Beduram Bhusal of the Unified Socialist stated that they would be holding formal discussions with the JSP in the first phase. “We have already begun informal discussions. Now, we will initiate formal discussions,” said Bhusal.
The talks for unification among the three parties were initiated following the November 30 elections. However, due to the busy schedules of party leaders, the process has not gained momentum.
The Maoist Center and Unified Socialist are positive about the possibility of unification, as they seek to create a powerful force through this process. However, the JSP is facing some internal issues. Some leaders close to Ashok Rai are against the idea of unification. Rai, who is said to be close to CPN-UML, is in favor of unifying with the UML.
