Gachhadar threatens to quit NC
Kathmandu, July 9
Nepali Congress leader Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar today said he would announce dissolution of the merger between
the NC and erstwhile Nepal Loktantrik Forum that he had led if the agreements reached before the unification were not implemented.
Just ahead of the provincial and parliamentary elections, Gachchhadar had merged the NLF with the NC. Gachhadar, originally from the NC, had left the party 10 years ago to join the then Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal. After a string of mergers and splits, he last headed the NLF.
Stating that he had decided to join forces with the NC despite a lucrative offer from then CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, he regretted that the issue of execution of the agreement was sidelined because of internal feud in the NC.
“Had I aligned with the communists, I would have bagged lucrative posts. But I did not do so because I believed in democracy and also that the NC should be strengthened to safeguard democracy,” he said. “I came back to the NC to strengthen the party to make it capable of taking on the communists. But sadly, I have neither been given any role, nor the due respect I deserve.”
During the time of merger, the NC had agreed to make Gachhadar vice-president, accommodate 15 to 20 NLF leaders in the NC’s central working committee and other NLF leaders in other party committees, gradually integrate the sister organisations of the two parties and give the status of active NC members to 38,000 active members of the NLF, among others, according to Gachhadar.
He also claimed that the NC had agreed to implement the agreement even by removing hurdles in the party statute. “We kept this agreement a secret just to make sure it did not have any negative impact on the elections. But I do not know why they are delaying this now,” he said.
NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma admitted that the agreement implementation process had been delayed due to political reasons and limitations in the party statute. “The issue will be sorted out very soon respecting the issues raised by Gachhadar,” he said.