The new group has a central committee comprising 699 members, perhaps the largest CC among official communist parties. The CPN-RM Chairman Mohan Baidya and his supporters opposed the unification process, although 130 members of the 199-member central committee of CPN-RM, led by the general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa opted for the merger. However, Vaidya has a greater mass base than Thapa and other leaders who joined the process of merger. A section of well-informed political commentators, based in Kathmandu, smells a rat in he process, They find a Chinese hand in the suddenly arranged merger venture. Following the Madhes imbroglio, the image of India has taken a dip. Beijing takes this as a golden opportunity to bring anti-Indian sections together. China has a rapport with the CPN(United Marxist Leninist) , especially with the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, a CPN(UML)-nominee. The hyper-active China is a matter of concern. It plans to widen its influence in an extensive way. The covert support to both Maoists and Marxist-Leninists is important to making China as an economic power to dominate the backward Nepali economy.

Sometime back, Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily) ,official daily of the CP of China, wrote that freight train had left Lanzhou, the capital city of Chinese province of Gansu, on its way to Tibet's Shigatse. Reaching there, goods and people from the train were transferred to road vehicles, which thereafter brought them to Kyirong on Nepal-China border en route to Kathmandu. It was a journey of 10 days, 35 days fewer than the travel time to routing them through the ocean. For the first time China used a combined (rail and road) transport mode to export to Nepal.

Anyway, the first CC meeting was held at Battisputali, Kathmandu, but it could not accommodate 500 persons. Nearly 200 members had to stay away from the maiden meeting of CC. Prahlad Budhathoki, CC member, had to admit that the meeting couldn’t be held at the UCPN(M)’s central office which would accommodate only 250 people”. Hence the venue was at Battisputali. Apparently, the reunification is a fillip to the rank and file of Maoists in the landlocked state with the banding together of various groups and parties that adhere to the ideology of Maoism which is not exactly a replica of Mao Zedong Thought The leaders of the new-born CPN-MC promise to ensure a collective leadership in the party. But beneath all this is a reflex of gigantic opportunism which emanates from the power-greedy erstwhile UCPN(M) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal a k a Prachanda . He had swung into action at the first meeting of the CC, obviously, to consolidate his hold by mooting two options in reorganizing Maoists: either a centralized leadership with a single leader at the helm or collective leadership.

The first option is his as he wants to keep calling the shots. Surya Man Dong, a top leader of the meeting, confirmed that Dahal has sought suggestions over whether to adopt centralized or collective leadership in the party which would be discussed next at the CC meeting beginning. For collective leadership model, as per Dahal formula , is to comprise one or two senior leaders, below the rank chairman but above , There will be two or more vice chairmen, a general secretary, two or more deputy general secretaries, five or more secretaries and a treasurer post for the party's central body, Dahal suggests . There will be of course a polit bureau.

In all probability, the collective leadership idea is to be through But even that will not be an easy task as Dahal has to offer a top post to Ram Bahadur Thapa leader of CPN-RM faction. That means alienation of Narayan Kaji Shreatha, who was the vice-chairman of UCP(N), The other solution is to offer the post of general secretary . The importance of Shreatha is great for Dahal who did wean away him from Dr Baburam Bhattarai, one of the founding vice-chairman of UCP (N) and for many years second- in- command in UCPN(M), known for his pro-India stand and clean image unlike Dahal and his followers.

However, the Vaidya group has proved its strength. It organized a mammoth procession of over 30,000 supporters who walked along the main thoroughfares of Kathmandu calling the reunification as a patch-up of ‘political brokers; The CPN-RM was formed four years ago. This group subscribes to the Maoist ideology but is cautious about ‘economic colonialism’ by any neighbouring country. (IPA Service)