Shekhar is being sidelined

KATHMANDU: JAN. 4 – Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has moved ahead with the strategy of keeping Shekhar Koirala in ‘size’ by activating senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, who helped him in the General Convention by remaining ‘silent’.

The picture of his strategy has started to be seen while deciding the nomination and National Assembly candidature in the Central Working Committee.

A meeting of the Central Working Committee held on Monday decided on six candidates from the party in the National Assembly election. It has been decided to field Gopal Basnet (Jhapa), Krishna Prasad Poudel (Kathmandu) in Bagmati, Kamala Panta (Gorkha) in Gandaki, Yuvraj Sharma (Banke) in Lumbini, Durga Kumari Gurung (Surkhet) in Karnali and Narayan Mishra (Kanchanpur) in the Far West. According to a central member, Deuba nominated Panta and Mishra on Poudel’s proposal.

Though Koirala contested for the post of a joint general minister from the panel at the General Convention, Panta is considered close to Poudel. Mishra, who is contesting for the post of Far-Western state president, is also considered Poudel’s confidante.

“At first glance, it seems that the president has included the other party (Shekhar Koirala) but their candidature has been decided on Poudel’s proposal rather than Shekhar’s,” the central member said. He said that Deuba had consulted the office bearers, former office-bearers and the state president while deciding the candidature.

A non-establishment group was formed under the leadership of Poudel after a clash with Deuba at the 13th General Convention. In the 14th General Convention, there was competition from ward to state in the name of the Poudel and Deuba group. In the General Convention, Poudel was frustrated as he could not become a common candidate in his own group. He did not speak in favor of Koirala and Prakash Man Singh, who became candidates from his group. Deuba took advantage of Poudel’s silence. He met Poudel, who was bored before the election, and lied to him, saying, “You need an active role in the politics of the party and the country.”

Deuba nominated 10 people, including Poudel, in the first round on Saturday and three more on Sunday. In the first meeting held on Monday after the nomination, Deuba has conveyed the message that he is trying to give a dignified role to the party by keeping Poudel as the second priority. The preference of other senior central members is determined after the office bearers. Deuba’s old strategy is to keep the strong group under pressure by taking the weaker group along. After being elected president of the 13th General Convention, he sided with the Krishna Prasad Sitaula faction and pushed the Poudel faction. Poudel was confined to a small circle within his own group by making the then General Minister Shashank Koirala close to him in the face of the General Convention.

After the 14th general convention, Shekhar has emerged as a new force in the party with 40 percent votes. The strong and old ‘Koirala group’ within the Congress, which became inactive after the 13th General Convention, has become active again. Gururaj Ghimire, a youth leader close to Shekhar, said that although president Deuba had promised to become the joint president, he had not done so in practice. “Especially in the nomination of central members, the leader of the Shekhar Koirala faction has been ignored. This has sent a very wrong message to the party unity,” he said.

According to Ghimire, Deuba has kept the Koirala group in ‘size’ by nominating central members. Chandra Bhandari, who contested for the post of vice-president, and Minendra Rijal, who contested for the post of general secretary, have not yet been nominated from Koirala’s panel. Both are former central members who have been with Deuba in the past. After the final results of the election, the Koirala faction called a meeting of its own party on Dec 24 and said that a “fair” nomination should be made to the Central Working Committee and other bodies. According to Central Member Arjun Arjun Narasingha K.C., who participated in the meeting, it was decided to suggest President Deuba to take the Koirala group, which got 40 percent votes in the General Convention, into confidence.

Decision-making process

The legislative process has been disrupted while deciding the candidates for the National Assembly. The Congress Legislature has given the Central Parliamentary Committee the power to decide the candidature of a member of the National Assembly. Article 32 (9) of the constitution states that each state working committee will request a list of possible names from the subordinate districts and send the names of three candidates for one seat to the center and send the names received by the center to the Central Parliamentary Committee.

There is a legal provision to declare the candidature on behalf of the party after the Central Working Committee decides by consensus and if there is no consensus among the names received by the Central Parliamentary Committee. In the first election held after the implementation of the new constitution, Congress has decided its candidature directly from the Central Working Committee. The Congress has decided to field Gopal Kumar Basnet of Jhapa and Krishna Prasad Poudel of Kathmandu in the six seats it has been allotted.

The then Sher Bahadur Deuba government had decided to nominate both of them as members of the National Assembly in 2074 BS. But when President Bidya Devi Bhandari did not implement the decision of the Council of Ministers, she was deprived of being a member of the National Assembly. Durga Kumari Gurung, who has decided to contest from Karnali, is the wife of Yagya Bahadur Gurung of Surkhet, who was killed by the then Maoist insurgents during the armed conflict. Yuvraj Sharma, who was the president of Banke Congress from 2045 BS to 2049 BS, is a leader deprived of opportunities. Gorkhaki Panta is a former minister. Mishra, who is contesting the election for the post of Far-Western State President, is a former district president of Kanchanpur.

The lower the preference

Due to the senior leaders nominated as central members, the ranking of Shekhar Koirala, the nearest rival of the president, has been pushed further down. He was ranked 20th in the first meeting and has reached 27th position in the last rankings.

Ram Chandra Poudel has been placed in the second priority after president Deuba. The third and fourth vice presidents are Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dhanraj Gurung and the fifth and sixth general ministers are Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma. Eight joint general ministers have been appointed from 7th to 14th.

Among the members, Gopalman Shrestha is ranked 15th. Then Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi, Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Shashank Koirala have been placed respectively. In Monday’s meeting, Shekhar is ranked 27th.

If the current rankings continue, the treasurer will be at number seven, while the rankings of others will drop one place. However, after the leaders expressed dissatisfaction over the priorities in Monday’s meeting, Deuba said that a committee would be formed to determine the priorities after the completion of the working committee.

-Kantipur Dainik