Factional politics rife in NC
It is appalling that some some leaders still wanted a show of strength instead of mourning our late party president Sushil Koirala-- NC leader Gopal Man Shrestha
Oct 5, 2016- Despite Nepali Congress officially announcing not to hold their customary greeting function ahead of the festive season to mourn the death of Sushil Koirala, the fact that several factions within the party regardlessly held their own mini-gatherings has not bode well with some party leaders.
At a time when NC is marred by deep factionalism between various groups of leaders--beginning from when the NC decided to support Maoist Centre leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, sending ministers to the Cabinet, holding general conventions of its sister organisations, nominating office bearers and, now, selecting state ministers--the tussle some leaders have demonstrated has leaders and cadres question where the oldest party is heading.
Gopal Man Shrestha, one of the most senior leaders in the party and a lawmaker from Syangja, rued the decision of two distinct factions--that of Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Situala--to hold their own gatherings of leaders and cadres to exchange greetings on the occasion of Dashain.
“When the party had already announced that we would not be celebrating our customary gathering session before Dashain to pay homage to our former NC president who passed earlier in the year, it is appalling that some leaders still felt the need of a show of strength,” said Shrestha, who was the acting president of the breakaway Nepali Congress led by Deuba.
The NC, through a statement earlier this week, had called off their annual function to exchange greetings before the festive season to mourn the death of Sushil Koirala. Koirala, while at helm of the party, passed away on February 9, 2016.
However, Poudel on Friday organised an unofficial gathering of party leaders and media personnel while Situala held a similar meet of senior reporters on the same day for informal talks.
“If we have to talk about factions within the party, weren’t Ramchandra ji and Krishna ji both from the same faction that Sushil ji represented. Where is their respect for our late leader?” Shrestha regretted. “This gives us a very disturbed picture of how leaders are practicing roping in a few lawmakers and some central committee members to show their strength to ultimately use it as a bargaining tool with the party president."
On the other hand, leaders' request to Deuba to call a central committee meeting at the earliest has fallen on deaf ears. Some even blame the party president's reluctance to call the meet to make official the NC's position on some of the pertinent issues--constitutional amendment proposal to appease the Madhes and Janajati forces and announcing dates for local polls--as giving continuity to traditional factionalism. Poudel and Singh demanded a CWC meet at the earliest.
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