Even as leaders and party workers have been striving for a consensus, the possibility of elections for leadership in CPN (UML) has increased after Thursday’s late night meeting of the party top brass ended without any conclusion.

Erstwhile general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal and party leader KP Oli are likely to contest for the post of chairman after they failed to agree on any of the options proposed in a series of meetings yesterday.

The first of the three options proposed was to make Madhav Kumar Nepal a ceremonial chairman and divide the posts of vice-chairman and general secretary with more executive power between Oli and Khanal. Although, Oli was flexible on this option, Khanal refused.

Nepal himself proposed the second option – to choose Oli for the post of general secretary unanimously. Khanal again refused.

The third option proposed by Bam Dev Gautam was to make Khanal the unanimous chairman. After Nepal and Oli refused this proposal, Khanal announced that he would rather go for election.

With this development, the chance of contest between Oli and Khanal for the post of chairman is increasing. This will open avenue for tier II leaders like Pradip Nepal, Ishwar Pokhrel and Pradeep Gyawali to contest for the post of general secretary. Nepal has already said he will not contest the election if a consensus is not reached.

Meanwhile, various district level and central level leaders have started lobbying for the candidature for central committee member. The issues of social inclusion and representation of youths and new faces in the central committee is getting priority at the general convention. nepalnews.com ta Feb 20 09