Bhimraj Angdembe Unanimously Elected Leader of Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party

Kathmandu. The Nepali Congress's working committee meeting has unanimously decided to make former joint general secretary Bhimraj Angdembe the leader of the parliamentary party in the House of Representatives.

At the working committee meeting held at the party's central office in Sanepa, President Gagan Thapa proposed Angdembe's name. That name was passed unanimously. Immediately after, the parliamentary party meeting approved his name.

However, it took a long time for Angdembe to become the party leader unanimously. Arjun Narsingh KC, Mohan Acharya, and Angdembe were in competition for the party leader. But, in the end, consensus was reached on Angdembe's name.

Angdembe, who was against the special general convention held in Poush amidst disagreement from the then President Sher Bahadur Deuba's committee, was compelled by President Thapa to become the party leader. The main reason Thapa was compelled to make Angdembe the party leader was the arithmetic of the elected MPs in the party.

In the House of Representatives, the Congress has 18 directly elected and 20 proportional representatives, totaling 38 MPs. Among the 38, former President Sher Bahadur Deuba's faction has 15, Dr. Shekhar Koirala's faction has 7, and the faction that came from the special general convention and to which the Supreme Court has now given official recognition has 16.

Angdembe won the position of joint general secretary from the indigenous tribal quota in the 14th general convention from the then President Sher Bahadur Deuba panel. Therefore, Angdembe is also the senior-most leader from Deuba's faction who is currently an MP.

After the special general convention, Dr. Shekhar Koirala's group is also cooperating with Deuba's group, and the Dr. Koirala group had stated that they would support the candidate proposed by the Deuba group for the party leader.

The number of MPs from Deuba and Dr. Koirala's factions in the current House of Representatives is 22. That number was a majority of the 38 MPs. Moreover, Angdembe was also supported by the current Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma in terms of region. In such a situation, even if Angdembe had contested the election, he was almost certain to win the party leader position. Therefore, he had been publicly expressing his views about becoming the party leader.

On the other hand, President Gagan Thapa's desire was to make either his father-in-law or Mohan Acharya, who was directly elected from Rasuwa, the party leader. Thapa made many efforts for that. The election for the party leader, scheduled for last Friday, was postponed by President Thapa at the last moment.

For the sake of consensus, a 7-member committee was formed under the leadership of Vice President Sharma. That committee held separate and collective discussions with the aspirants. After analyzing all sides, it was seen that Angdembe would be elected even if an election were held.

Then, Thapa wanted to show that unity remained in the party by making him the party leader unanimously, a party official from his led committee informed. 'Even if an election were held, Angdembe would have won. Therefore, we reached the conclusion that he should be made the leader unanimously,' said the official, who was also a member of the committee formed for consensus, to Ratopati.

With this, Angdembe has succeeded in being unanimously elected as the party leader, a position that has not been achieved unanimously since the first Constituent Assembly election held in 2064 BS.

Angdembe was elected as a Member of Parliament through the proportional representation system. After the special general convention, the Deuba and Dr. Koirala groups are outside the party's central committee. There have been voices within the Congress demanding that Angdembe be made the party leader to give a message of unity to the groups outside. The establishment was compelled to give this a concrete form.

General Secretary Pradip Paudel informed that the party meeting was requested to convey a message of unity within the party and to elect the party leader unanimously in accordance with the newly formed parliamentary party statute.

'We tried for consensus in accordance with the party statute. We have succeeded in building consensus,' General Secretary Paudel told Ratopati. Angdembe had written a status on social media stating that he would not be labeled by any group and that he was ready to work in the spirit of President Thapa.

Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma and other leaders have been advocating for Angdembe to be made the parliamentary party leader to convey a message of internal party unity.