By Review Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal, February 3, 2020: With the evolution of Bamdev Gautam as the vice-chairperson of the ruling head Nepal Communist Party (NCP) even amending in the party statue, new form of debate has emerged in the political arena, particularly in the NCP.
Although Gautam ranks fifth in the party pecking order after KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Jhalanath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, he has now become power center in the ruling party, thanks to the tactical linkage between Gautam and co-chairperson Dahal.
Some insiders of the party, particularly the loyal to Gautam, have projected him as the future prime minister of the country. It is suspected that Dahal and Gautam would have made a secret deal to support each other for the post of party chairman and prime minister respectively.
As Gautam is also the chief of organization department, which used to be considered as key in a communist party including the NCP, his role would be vital one to make winner in the party position.
As Gautam is also skillful enough to change the internal power equations, it is believed that recent collusion between co-chairperson Dahal and Gautam would have led him to become powerful in the party.
The new equation formed in the party seems to have targeted just to balance the growing influence of Oli. It is likely that Gautam's influence could increase further in the party as his position of organization department is doubled with the post vice- president.
Gautam is credited for his efforts to get the then two communist parties-CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) to merge into NCP. It is said that he had made efforts to bring together the long-time communist rivals–Dahal and Oli to merge the party.
Despite of his growing influence in the party, he had lost the parliamentary race from Bardiya constituency no 1, thanks to the internal rivalry in the party.
Nepali Congress’s local leader Sanjay Gautam had defeated him by 727 votes in the elections. Since then, he had been remaining relative shadow in the party. Gautam used to accuse Oli for not only shadowing him in the party but also to defeat in the elections.
