Kathmandu, April 25

Nepali Congress Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma today pointed out six major reasons for the party’s humiliating defeat in provincial and parliamentary elections at the hands of the left alliance of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre.

Presenting ‘Transformation Agenda and Modernisation Roadmap’ in the ongoing Central Working Committee meeting, Sharma also expressed commitment to ‘transform the party by transforming ourselves’.

According to Sharma, one of the six reasons for the NC’s election defeat was the leaders’ hunger for power rather than sacrifice, which resulted in betrayal and internal rift among party leaders. Another reason Sharma pointed out was bad reputation, the result of failure to communicate properly with people. The party failed to properly ‘brand’ its good deeds while in power, failed to understand that some unpopular decisions would have a negative impact on voters, and failed to put in place a lean team that would work to enhance the party’s image.

Sharma also stated that the party dropped some important issues such as inclusion, which originally was the NC’s idea, but was later adopted by other parties. The party also failed to strongly oppose the blockade imposed by India immediately after the devastating 2015 earthquakes, which resulted in other parties establishing themselves as ‘great nationalists’, he said.

He also said that the party failed to strongly hit at the opposition with facts. Thus, the party became defensive. The NC also could not properly devise and communicate with the people its future plans for the country.

Finally, Sharma said the conventional organisational structure, which was never ready to take on the strengthened left alliance, was another reason for the election defeat.

Sharma also underscored the need to redefine ideology and adopt a new vision for prosperity in the changed context. He said the party’s ideology should have at its core nationalism, democracy, federalism and socialism. According to Sharma, the party should transform itself into a modern political force by strengthening its organisation from the grassroots level. It needed to build the capacity of members and active members and instil discipline within the party.