Kathmandu, February 19

Youth leaders of the Nepali Congress championing the cause of party reforms have separately come together to pressure NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba to abide strictly by the party statute in running the party.

A group of NC youth leaders led by Nabindra Raj Joshi and another group including Gagan Thapa, Pradip Paudel, Guru Ghimire, Dhan Raj Gurung and Chandra Bhandari today held separate programmes as part of their campaign to revive the party after its humiliating election defeat.

However, the two groups later converged giving the message that they were now united in their campaign for party reforms.

NC leader Paudel said the two groups came together realising the fact that running separate campaigns for the same cause would not help. “We had been fighting separately all these days. But since we have a common agenda, we are now on the same platform,” said Paudel. “Henceforth, we will not be organising programmes separately.”

The youth leaders also launched ‘Nepali Congress Rejuvenation Campaign’ today with the aim of making the party a strong and responsible opposition for the next five years as per the people’s mandate, and also to establish the Nepali Congress as the top party with majority in elections in all three levels after five years.

Launched at an event organised to coincide with National Democracy Day, the campaign aims to develop internal democracy, and revive the spirit of social movement to establish the party as the leader of the movement.

The concept paper on the campaign seeks to redefine the party’s principle and ideals for ideological clarity in the changed context after the promulgation of the constitution. It also states that the campaign aims to reorganise the party structure in line with the federal set-up and changing social and economic context; and also aims to make the party completely inclusive, democratic and disciplined.

The campaign also aims to build public base, both internal and external, for making the party a modern political force of the 21st century in which all the members have the feeling of ownership and dignity, and to provide dynamic and devoted leadership defined by good conduct.

NC leader Thapa said the party should convert the pain after election loss into energy and rejuvenate the party.

Presenting a similar concept paper at an interaction with noted professionals, NC leader Joshi said they would fight until the end to strengthen and revitalise the party. “All these inputs and issues raised in these interactions will be taken to the CWC meeting,” he said. “We all will change ourselves and reform the party.”

Stating that no person can be above the party statute, the paper says the leadership’s failure to abide by the statute resulted in weak organisation.  “Since NC is the only party in the country with democratic values and ideals, it should lead the democratic ideology,” it reads.

Besides reorganising the party structure in line with the new federal set up and giving full shape to all the party organs, the paper says the party should also target and welcome youths.

Joshi said that the party would now work to rebuild its relationship with the people and regain their trust by having ‘shadow governments’ at all the levels and raising at central and provincial levels the issues facing the general public at the local level to get them addressed.