Miscellaneous
NC factions spar over convention
Nepali Congress (NC) district presidents’ opinions are divided whether to hold immediately party convention at local and provincial levels after amending the statute or not.Nagendra Adhikari
Nepali Congress (NC) district presidents’ opinions are divided whether to hold immediately party convention at local and provincial levels after amending the statute or not.
The NC’s national conclave is currently on in Hetauda.
Around 40 district presidents addressed the conclave on Wednesday. Most pressed for giving the party a federal character by holding its convention early.
District presidents close to senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel and former general secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula urged to hold party convention to elect leaders at the local and provincial levels. They urged top leaders to call for Mahasamiti meeting at the earliest to amend the party statute.
The faction in power is against holding party convention now. They say leaders should handle the party for the time being.
The conclave of NC district presidents opened at a time when various factions of the party blame the NC leaders for its defeat at the federal and provincial elections held last year.
The disgruntled factions want the convention as soon as possible to elect party leaders at the local and provincial levels.
The conclave may give suggestions to amend party statute. This is vital to give NC a federal profile.
NC’s Nuwakot President Jagadish Narshing KC suggested choosing leaders for the new federal structure within three months.
“We contested the local, provincial and federal elections without the party’s organisation as per the new structure. That was the main reason behind the election debacle. The party cannot run through an ad hoc committee. New leaders should be chosen through election,” Narshing said.
NC’s Bhojpur President Nanda Mani Rai reiterated this suggestion.
“Almost all the district presidents in Province 1 suggested amending the party statute and hold election,” Rai said.
NC district presidents close to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba said party convention at the local level is not possible immediately. They suggested forming an ad hoc committee for the time being.
“It takes time to amend the statute and hold election. Therefore, we suggested giving responsibility to the leaders for now,” said NC Dolakha President Rudra Bahadur Khadka.
NC Spokesperson Bishwo Prakash Sharma said the district presidents suggested strengthening party’s unity and launching awareness campaign across the country. They also asked the leaders to take action against those who betrayed the party’s candidates during the elections.
Eight central members push for convention date
Eight NC central members urged party district presidents to raise issue of electing party leaders at the local and provincial levels as per the new federal set up.
In a joint letter to the district presidents attending the NC conclave in Hetauda, the leaders demanded to set date for the convention at the Mahsamiti meeting.
NC central members Chandra Bhandari, Dhanaraj Gurung, Gagan Thapa, Jiban Pariyar, Gururaj Ghimire, Pradip Poudel, Ramkrishna Yadav and Kiran Yadav jointly signed the letter. “The party will be unable to carry out its activities as per the new federal structures if we fail to have new party organisation through the Mahasamiti.
It takes about one year to hold convention in ward, rural municipal, municipal, regional and provincial levels. “Let us not wait for the national convention. We should immediately initiate local and provincial levels convention after endorsing the federal statute by Mahasamiti,” the letter said.