Kathmandu, July 18: There was prolonged discussion on the much-watched proposal regarding the age limit of 70 years and the two-term restriction in the Secretariat meeting of the CPN-UML held on Thursday.

“All the leaders expressed their views. However, consensus could not be reached,” a source from the meeting said. “Later, the proposal was passed based on a majority.”

During the discussion on this provision under Article 64 of the statute, there was a verbal exchange between Chairperson KP Sharma Oli and Senior Vice-Chairperson Ishwar Pokharel. While expressing his opinion on the statute, Pokharel raised the issue that the party’s statute had been printed three times, each with a different preamble.

Referring to the decisions of the first Statute Convention and the context of the 10th National Convention, Pokharel highlighted the fact that the statute had been printed three times.

As Pokharel was speaking, Oli objected. Oli said, “Are you bringing Karn Thapa’s opinion here?”

According to the source, when Oli told him not to bring up Karn Thapa’s views, Ishwar Pokharel got irritated. “I am presenting my own opinion—why are you linking me to Karn Thapa?” Pokharel retorted.

After that, Oli remained silent and Pokharel continued to express his views.

While speaking, Pokharel even suggested that Oli should step down from leadership.
“There is no ideological difference between you and me, but the problem lies in your approach,” Pokharel said. “Your manner of dealing with party members and the public is not right, and there’s no proper method of internal evaluation in the party. So now, you should step down from leadership.”

He argued that Oli should resign in order to strengthen democratic practices within the party. “There’s no culture of self-criticism, and you label discussions on ideas as conflict,” Pokharel said, asserting that there was no alternative but for Oli to leave the leadership.

However, Prime Minister Oli—who was listening to all of this—responded that there was no situation in which he could step down. “Comrade Ishwar calmly suggested I step down, and Chairperson Oli, who was listening to everything, replied that it’s not possible,” the source said.

Oli argued that he still had a role to play in the party and therefore could not resign. According to the source, the meeting that involved hours of discussion on the statute also touched upon the issue of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari. However, there wasn’t much debate on the matter.

Since Chairperson Oli himself said that the issue would be discussed further later, the leaders refrained from further comments. “We need to talk more about this, somewhere between the Central Committee meeting and the Statute Convention, there should be a discussion on her (Bidya Bhandari),” Oli had said. However, Oli also stated during the meeting that it would not be appropriate for Bhandari to enter politics.

Consensus

Meanwhile, the UML Secretariat meeting reached a consensus after nearly 10 hours of discussion during the Secretariat meeting held on Thursday at the party headquarters in Chyasal, Lalitpur.

UML Vice Chairperson Bishnu Paudel presented a statute amendment proposal to remove the age limit, which was approved by the meeting. The Secretariat also approved a provision allowing candidates to contest for executive positions, including the party chairperson, for more than two consecutive terms.

The 70-year age limit and term limits were first introduced after the ninth General Convention. Although these provisions were removed during the unification with the Maoist Center, the age limit was reinstated following the 10th General Convention. However, there remain differing views within UML regarding the term limits. Senior leaders, including the Vice Chairperson, have claimed that the provision passed by the Statute Convention was deliberately omitted during the final publication of the statute.