National
Bibeksheel Sajha: Split major blow but journey will continue
A day after the Bibeksheel Sajha Party suffered an unexpected split, it said on Saturday that the party’s ambition of emerging as an alternative political force has faced a serious blow.Chandan Kumar Mandal
A day after the Bibeksheel Sajha Party suffered an unexpected split, it said on Saturday that the party’s ambition of emerging as an alternative political force has faced a serious blow.
Leaders said on Saturday that a rift in the party ultimately led to the split, which they called “stunning and tragic” for the party as well as its well-wishers.
The party’s journey has hit a snag, but it has not ended yet, said Rabindra Mishra, the coordinator.
On Friday, a group of 16 central committee members of Bibeksheel Sajha Party, jointly coordinated by Ujwal Thapa, reached the Election Commission to register a separate party.
The Thapa-led Bibeksheel Nepali Party and the Mishra-led Sajha Party had merged 17 months ago to form the Bibeksheel Sajha Party after their impressive performance in the local elections of 2017 with an aim to create an alternative political force in the country.
Thapa, Ranju Darshana, Subuna Basnet and Milan Pandey, who made their forays into politics from the Bibeksheel Nepali Party, and two Province 3 Assembly members—Ramesh Paudyal and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha—on Friday decided to leave the party, accusing Mishra of running the party “unilaterally” and deviating from its objectives and ideology.
The disgruntled leaders accused the leadership of not maintaining transparency in party operations, disrespecting core values and ignoring Thapa while making decisions.
Mishra on Saturday, however, refuted the allegations as baseless and said minor differences could have been sorted out through dialogue.
“Even I can level charges against them, but I do not want to get into a dirty blame game,” Mishra said.
The latest misunderstanding emerged after Thapa’s review report, prepared in December after a nationwide tour, pointed out some problems in running the party and questioned the functioning of the leadership.
Leaders close to Thapa said the party did not even discuss the report.
Surya Raj Acharya, a spokesperson for the party, said the document was due to be discussed at the upcoming central committee meeting.
“We had given our initial feedback. Long before we could deliberate on the report, it had reached the media,” said Acharya, claiming that all the central members including the two coordinators had say in the party affairs.
“As we are still at the party-building stage, there are some members who are more active and involved than others. However, they all had similar and equal authority,” Acharya said in response to charges that Thapa was ignored while making decisions. Party leaders said they had come to know about Thapa and other members approaching the EC through the media. “There was a closed Facebook group which was discussing the ongoing matters. However, we had never thought that such minor tussles would lead to a split in the party, which has only disappointed a majority of Nepalis having faith in our politics,” said Mishra.
The Bibeksheel Sajha Party also said that there were no plans to change the name of the party even though those who came from Bibeksheel Nepali Party had walked out.