A serious dispute has arisen between CPN-UML’s general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and the party’s standing committee members Jhalanath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam on the way of classifying the Maoists, Kantipur Daily reports.

On the 13th day (Saturday) of the ongoing central committee meeting of the party, the top leadership of CPN-UML remained divided over the issue as to whether it would be right to term the Maoists that has already joined the interim government a “radical leftist force” or a “democratic force”.

After General Secretary Nepal, while answering questions put to him regarding the political paper which he presented for discussion, said as the Maoists lay more importance to their arms and military, they should be termed as a radical leftist force, Khanal and Gautam had immediately sprung up in defense of the Maoists. They said that a ‘force’ that has already joined the government should not be called radical leftists and instead should be thought of as a democratic force.

One participant of the meeting told the daily that during the heated discussion that ensued, Nepal had reiterated his stance that the Maoists can’t be defined as a democratic force as long as it holds on to extreme leftist views.

It is stated in Nepal’s ‘political paper’ that the monarchists, bourgeoisie reformists, radical leftists and revolutionary democratic forces are active in Nepal’s current political realm.