National
NC leader Gurung withdraws support to party President Deuba
Two years after party’s 13th General Convention, a senior Nepali Congress leader Kul Bahadur Gurung has withdrawn his support extended at the time to Sher Bahadur Deuba for the party presidency.Two years after party’s 13th General Convention, a senior Nepali Congress leader Kul Bahadur Gurung has withdrawn his support extended at the time to Sher Bahadur Deuba for the party presidency.
“I am really sad today,” Gurung said while speaking at the ongoing party Central Working Committee meeting, on Sunday. “I am withdrawing my support extended to Deuba as party president. I had huge expectation from him as party leader.”
Deuba’s candidacy as party president was proposed by Gurung during the party’s 13th General Convention in 2018. “The confidence that I had in him has eroded. I am very disappointed with his performance as party president and prime minister,” Gurung said.
Gurung was also critical of the party president’s working style, saying that the party did not discuss the root cause of its defeat in the recent elections. Presenting a concept paper during the meeting, he suggested ways to re-invigorate the party in the future while taking a lesson from the past. “We made mistakes often in the past which led to our defeat in the elections,” he said, referring to the party leadership’s constant vacillation—getting close the ultra left at one moment and the ultra right the next—forgetting about the party’s ideology, principle.
Other CWC leaders, including Min Bishwakarma, Ishowri Neupane, Devendra Raj Kadel who spoke at Sunday’s meeting, supported Deuba and insisted that all the NC leaders should take responsibility for the poll debacle. Neupane criticised senior party leader Poudel for publicising a four-page letter to Deuba regarding the poll defeat. “Poudel made a mistake in this respect,” said Neupane. “He should have discussed among the party leaders instead of making it public.” Bishwakarma and Kadel said party President Deuba should be thanked for holding three tiers of elections successfully.