KATHMANDU: While national and international dignitaries gathered at Bankali in Pashupatinath today to pay tributes to late NC president Girija Prasad Koirala on the 13th day of his demise, the senior leaders of Nepali Congress looked hesitant to sit together. Acting president Sushil Koirala, former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba and NC vice president Ram Chandra Paudel did not sit together even for a minute at the mourning ceremony. Sushil Koirala, who arrived earlier than other senior party leaders, and Paudel sat together for about five hours, while Deuba spent almost two-and-a-half hours with GPK’s daughter Sujata Koirala. Sujata was busy welcoming national and international guests and thanking them. Hindu priests, Buddhist Lamas and Christian priests chanted mantras for the departed soul. The guests included Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, former PMs Surya Bahadur Thapa and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Yoser Thinley, CPN-UML chief Jhala Nath Khanal, Chief of the Army Staff Chhatra Man Gurung, ex-CoAS Rookmangud Katwal, Nepal Police IGP Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Armed Police Force IGP, chiefs of judiciary and foreign diplomats. Other present at the mourning were Deputy PM Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, UCPN-Maoist leaders Dr Baburam Bhattarai, ministers and high-ranking officials, Constituent Assembly members, Yoga Guru Swami Ram Dev, leaders from different political parties and more than 10,000 ordinary people, well wishers and NC party workers. Dharmendra Pandey, president of Democratic Employees’ Union at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said: “NC leaders not sitting together is an indication of things to come.” Shuva Kala Jha, who came all the way from Chandragadhi in Jhapa, said, “If the leaders don’t follow the path set by him, the country will fall into an abyss.” The district chapters of NC paid tributes to GPK throughout the country. Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi, along with Nepali and Indian people, expressed condolence over his death. Remains of GPK were ritually flown to Haridwar to be submerged in the Ganges River, according to the Embassy. The PM released a book on Koirala on the occasion — GP Koirala’s Struggle for Democracy in Nepal: A Biography, penned by Dr Paramananda, professor of Delhi University and JNU University.