Soon after top leaders vowed to end factional politics inside the party at the seventh plenum, disputes have emerged among UCPN (Maoist) top guns over various appointments in the party.

The Kathmandu plenum had dissolved the Central Committee and decided to form a General Convention (GC) organising committee from the centre to the village level. Appointments to the GC organising committees have been delayed as Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha remain divided over the appointments and portfolio allocations.

The Bhattarai and Shrestha factions have argued that leaders from their camps should get a certain share in the organising committee. Leaders close to the vice-chairmen duo said that in the name of ending factional politics, Dahal and his supporters were hatching a ploy by appointing their confidantes to the key posts.

 The party has initiated efforts at the state and district committees to hold the GC in mid-February next year. A CC meeting was called on Tuesday but could not take any concrete decisions as leaders remained divided.

“The disputes regarding allocations of responsibilities and appointments are ongoing,” said Politburo member Hemanta Prakash Oli.

As per the plenum decision, the party is also preparing to transfer heads of state committees across the country but some leaders have refused to leave stating that the transfer would hamper their constituencies. There is also dispute on appointing coordinators in the districts. According to a leader, disputes are likely to escalate as the appointments will affect the selection of representatives to participate in the general convention. All top leaders have stepped up efforts to select representatives loyal to them from the district and state committees.