Nepali Congress National Assembly Leadership Change Speculated After New House Leader Elected

Kathmandu. Speculation has begun as to whether the leadership of the National Assembly parliamentary party will be changed following the election of Bhimraj Angdembe as the leader of the House of Representatives parliamentary party.

It is speculated that the leadership will change after a new party leader is elected, as per the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Bylaws (as amended and revised, 2083), which allows the leader of the House of Representatives party to change the leader of the National Assembly party.

According to Article 12 of the bylaws, titled 'Leader of the National Assembly Parliamentary Party,' it states, 'The leader of the parliamentary party shall nominate one of the party's National Assembly members as the leader of the National Assembly parliamentary party in consultation and agreement with the party president.'

Based on this, former party presidents Sher Bahadur Deuba and Purna Bahadur Khadka's faction is speculating whether Krishna Prasad Sitaula, the current leader of the National Assembly party, will be replaced. In the previous House of Representatives, former president Deuba, who was the leader of the party, had appointed Sitaula as the leader of the National Assembly party.

They claim that Angdembe might strategize to remove Sitaula, who belongs to former president Deuba's faction, and appoint Kamala Panta as the leader. Panta is a Member of Parliament from party president Gagan Thapa's faction. Panta's husband, Madhu Acharya, is a trusted aide of party president Gagan Thapa.

However, the newly elected party leader Angdembe stated that there is no such preparation at the moment. 'I have just been elected as the party leader and am receiving congratulations and best wishes. There has been no discussion about that yet,' Angdembe told Ratopati.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Basana Thapa is being prepared to be appointed as the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives and Nishkal Rai as the Whip. However, the parliamentary party office has stated that no process has been initiated in this regard.