KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Poudel has claimed that the UML was united in all respects and there is no difference of opinion within the party. He said that no one had registered dissenting views in the party’s Statute General Convention.

Talking to reporters at a press conference that centered around the recently concluded UML’s first Statute General Convention on Monday, Poudel, who is also the head of the UML’s organization department, defended that the party was united in all respects.

“People express their opinions in official platforms of the party which could be either committees or the general convention, and the committees or the convention makes decisions,” he said. “If anyone disagrees with those decisions, s/he should formally register disagreement in the minutes of the meeting. If it is formally registered, it is considered a dissenting view. And, if someone does not formally register their disagreement, s/he is likely to agree with the party’s decision.”

Deputy Secretary General Poudel said that the Statute General Convention had reaffirmed that the party had not split. He argued that the attendance in the Statute Convention, discussions and reporting at the event all corroborated that there was no division in the party.

Referring to CPN-Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, Poudel said some leaders left the party due to self-serving interests, frustration and jealousy that resulted from trickery and deception. He urged such defecting leaders and cadres to return to the mother party.