Kathmandu, March 24 Central Working Committee members of the Nepali Congress today held a meeting to review the party’s election defeat. While some members held party President Sher Bahadur Deuba responsible for the poll debacle, others attributed the party’s poor show in the elections to factionalism and failure to devise a sound strategy. CWC member Bir Bahadur Balayar, who spoke at the meeting, said the NC might not be able to free the country from the grip of communist forces. Balayar said although the party lost 22 to 23 parliamentary seats due to internal feud, they should not keep fussing over it and move ahead in the spirit of unity. “If we look at our party’s share of votes, there is no reason for us to panic,” he said. Stating that factionalism plagued the party even when Ganesh Man Singh was alive, he said, “Ganesh Man Singh, who devoted his life to the party was defamed and wrongly accused of being communal when he proposed to appoint his nephew Durgesh Man Singh an ambassador.” He said the NC needed to be restructured in line with the federal set-up. “We need to maintain restraint. NC leaders should refrain from blaming each other,” he added. Another CWC member Guru Raj Ghimire said the NC lost parliamentary and provincial elections mainly due to  favouritism in ticket distribution,  party’s failure to mobilise sister wings, Deuba-led government’s controversial decisions and NC’s  failure to forge an effective democratic alliance. CWC member Narhari Acharya said the constitution had created basic structure of federalism but the party needed to initiate a debate on the remaining issues of federalism. “We need to achieve the goals of a federal republic. We need to find a lasting  solution to problems and not temporary ones,” he said, adding that the party had failed to devise strategies to counter the challenge posed by the left alliance. Acharya said the NC failed to bring other forces on board the democratic alliance.  He said the  election results showed that the NC was a weak force. “We failed to make our cadres and leaders understand issues of the constitution,” he added. Nabindra Raj Joshi said the NC failed to devise strategies to counter the challenge posed by the opponents. Joshi said the party had failed to respect people’s feedback on its policies. According to a leader, some speakers also said that NC’s failure to devise proper poll strategies, failure to  form provincial chapters before the election and lack of discussion among the top leaders on major political issues cost the party dearly in the recently held elections. The CWC meeting will continue on Monday. Of  the 91 CWC members, only 11 members have spoken at the meeting that began yesterday.