Miscellaneous
NC Mahasamiti not to discuss leadership change
The much touted change in leadership will not figure in the Mahasamiti meeting of the Nepali Congress, which is likely to take place within a couple of months, according to leaders close to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba.The much touted change in leadership will not figure in the Mahasamiti meeting of the Nepali Congress, which is likely to take place within a couple of months, according to leaders close to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Youth leaders of the NC are demanding that the Mahasamiti meeting look into the causes of the party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections besides discussing a change in leadership to revive the oldest party.
They are also pressing the party leadership to retire from politics and hand over the charge to them.
Leaders close to Deuba, however, argue that the Mahasamiti is mandated to take decisions related to statute amendment and discuss the latest political situation. Rival factions of the party are already engaged in a blame-game over the NC’s poor electoral showing.
Mahasamiti is the highest policy-making body of the party. The meeting will be attended by more than 3,000 leaders and cadres. Leaders close to Deuba say that only the general convention has the mandate to discuss and decide a change in leadership. They also argue that the Central Working Committee will review the party’s performance in the recently concluded House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections.
“The party president is ready to call a meeting of the Mahasamiti after discussion in the Central Working Committee but the purpose of the meeting is not leadership change, nor a review of the election results,” said CWC member Prakash Sharan Mahat, who is close to Deuba. He said the local party committees had been reviewing the poll results.
Issuing a statement on Sunday, NC youth leaders Chandra Bhandari, Gagan Thapa, Dhanaraj Gurung, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, Gururaj Ghimire, Pradeep Poudel and Badri Pandey demanded a meeting of the Mahasamiti without delay. They are also drafting a roadmap for what they call party rebuilding. Deuba has reportedly expressed his displeasure saying that the youth leaders should have expressed their views in the CWC instead of making their demands public through press statement.
“We are not calling the Mahasamiti meeting due to the pressure and demands of some leaders. The meeting will discuss issues related to strengthening the party organisation,” said Mahat.
At the time when pressure is piling on the party leadership to step down on moral ground for the NC’s humiliating defeat in the elections, Deuba plans to take decisions on amending the party statute.
The NC is yet to mould the party mechanism into a federal shape. There is also the need for revamping the party structure at the local level after adoption of 753 local federal units. The 240 electoral constituencies have been reduced to 165 for the post-constitution elections. “The Mahasamiti meeting will resolve such organisational issues,” said Mahat.