Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday cited intra-party reasons behind the party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded elections to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies.

In his first public address after the election debacle, Deuba came down heavily on Congress leaders who are saying that the party leadership should take moral responsibility for the loss. He cautioned party cadres not to make public statements blaming him for the NC’s poor showing.

“The NC lost the elections for its own internal reasons. We need a reconciliatory policy in the party with full adherence to discipline,” Deuba told a programme attended by leaders close to him.

Deuba’s statements clearly indicate that he is not going to step down from the party helm in the near future. He pledged to form a committee to look into “intra-party betrayal” that led to the party’s defeat.

A group of youth leaders has started a campaign for rebuilding the party. They are also pressing other senior NC leaders to resign on moral ground for the party’s drubbing. Rival camps in the party are accusing each other of “betrayal” that caused the electoral losses.

Though leaders are stressing the need for ending factionalism to strengthen the party, intra-party rift was visible on Sunday when the NC celebrated the National Reconciliation Day organised to mark the return of party founder BP Koirala from exile 42 years ago. Rival factions of the NC sister organisation Nepal Student Union organised two separate programmes in Kathmandu on Friday to mark the day. PM Deuba attended the official event organised by the union.

However, some top leaders of the NSU organised a separate function on the occasion inviting senior Congress leader Prakash Man Singh. Singh came down heavily on Deuba, blaming intra-party rift for the party’s defeat.

“The president tried to run the party unilaterally. He provided [poll] tickets to the leaders close to him. The party leadership also failed to run the sister organisations,” said Singh, adding that he was ready to fight against “any type of injustice” in the party.

NC General Secretary Shashank Koirala, however, skipped both the events, apparently to give a message that he was not involved in factional politics.