Nepali Congress to Elect Parliamentary Party Leader Today Amidst Consensus Efforts

Kathmandu. A meeting of the working executive committee has been called for 11 AM on Monday to propose the name of the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress.

Prakash Snehi Rasaili, the coordinator of the election committee formed for the election of the joint general secretary and party leader, informed that the working executive committee meeting has been called at the party's central office in Sanepa, and that party president Gagan Thapa will present a name for consensus on the party leader in that meeting.

'The working executive committee meeting has been called for 11 AM on Monday. In that meeting, the president will propose a name to select the party leader by consensus,' Rasaili told Ratopati. 'After reaching a consensus in the working executive committee, we will approve it in the party meeting at 1 PM. Tomorrow, our parliamentary party will get its leader.'

Three individuals are claiming the position of party leader in the Congress. Arjun Narsingh KC, Bhishma Raj Angdembe, and Mohan Acharya are claiming the position of party leader.

Last Friday, the election committee led by Rasaili had published the election schedule for the selection of the party leader. At the last moment that day, the election process was postponed, and a committee was formed to reach a consensus on the party leader, with Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma as the coordinator, along with another Vice President Pushpa Bhusal, General Secretaries Pradip Poudel and Gururaj Ghimire, and three members of the election committee.

According to committee member Bhusal, the committee attempted to build consensus by holding individual and group discussions with the aspirants for the leadership. 'We were given the responsibility to build consensus on the party leader. We tried to bring together individual and group discussions with the friends who aspire to be the leader,' Vice President Bhusal told Ratopati. 'We have presented the conclusions we reached in the discussions to the president. Based on those conclusions, the president has called a meeting of the working executive committee. We are confident that a conclusion will be reached there.'

When asked if the consensus committee had reached an agreement on who to make the leader, Vice President Bhusal said, 'We have briefed the president on the conditions of each aspirant. He will present it in a way that reconciles them.'

Meanwhile, Arjun Narsingh KC, who has been publicly staking his claim for the party leadership, stated that he would not contest the election for the parliamentary party leader. KC stated that while he had staked his claim based on seniority and experience for a consensus leader, he would not contest the election.

'I will not contest the election for parliamentary party leader. I have been saying this since I became a Member of Parliament,' KC told Ratopati. 'There are efforts being made to portray that the delay in selecting the party leader is due to me. That is not the case. I have been communicating this to the leadership for a long time.'

He also urged the leadership to set specific criteria for reaching a consensus on the party leader. KC also stated that he would be ready to propose if Karnali's woman, youth, and directly elected woman Vasana Thapa were to be made the party leader.

After KC withdrew from the race due to a lack of consensus, there are now two individuals in the competition. Leaders say that the president will present a proposal to select one of these two as the party leader by consensus.

President Thapa's preference is to make directly elected Mohan Acharya the party leader, as KC is not his choice. However, Vice President Sharma appears to favor making Angdembe the leader. Leaders say that making Angdembe the leader would also bring former president Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala into the fold.

कांग्रेस संसदीय दल नेता : देउवा समूहबाट आङ्देम्बे, संस्थापनबाट केसी र आचार्यको दाबी

Dr. Koirala had called President Thapa on Friday morning suggesting that the leader be selected by consensus among senior leaders. According to Dr. Koirala's secretariat, he told President Thapa that the delay in selecting the party leader, even as the party's seats have shrunk, was not sending a good message externally.