Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been forced to defend his leadership and his position in the party of late, with many party leaders holding him responsible for the electoral debacle in recent general elections. 

Senior party leader Ram Chandra Poudel read out a four-page-long letter during the party’s Central Working Committee meeting on Sunday, criticising Deuba for failing the NC in the elections.

Accusing Deuba of becoming the leader of one faction rather than the entire party, Poudel claimed that the partisan attitude adopted by the party president made him a failure as a prime minister as well as the party leader.

Poudel accused Deuba of weakening the party organisation by weakening the morale of the cadres.

The senior NC leader asked Deuba to convene the 14th general convention of the party through the Mahasamiti meeting to decide the party’s future. 

Poudel pointed out weak party organisations and alliance between two communist parties—CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre)—as the reasons behind the NC’s poor performance in the elections.

He also emphasised the need of giving opportunities to young leaders. “What kind of party does NC aspire to become, what kind of organisational structure will it have in the new federal structure?” Poudel asked. He went on, “What plans and policy will the party introduce to attract new faces in the party and how the leadership plans to give a new lease of life to the party are the questions that Deuba should meditate upon.”

President Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the next meeting would take decisions regarding the party’s future as well as review the outcome of the elections of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly held last year.

The NC CWC meeting also approved the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Statute-2074 BS and  formed a committee to carry out the homework for the election of the parliamentary party (PP) leader.

NC leader Chinkaji Shrestha has been appointed the coordinator of the committee while Bhishma Raj Aangdambe and Nabindra Raj Joshi have been appointed its members.

The committee would do necessary homework to elect the parliamentary party leader, said Party Spokesperson Bishwo Prakash Sharma.

The meeting denounced the step taken by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari of not approving the recommendations made by the NC-led government to the National Assembly.

The meeting also decided to elect PP  leader and the working committee after the members of parliament take the oath of office and secrecy. The federal parliament is meeting on March 5.

The majority of the NC leaders, including General Secretary Shashank Koirala, have called for appointing the PP leader on the basis of consensus.

Koirala, who earlier had expressed his intention of contesting for the PP leader’s post, said he will not run in the PP election if the party decides to pick a consensual candidate.