Kathmandu, December 17

Nepali Congress Central Working Committee members are divided over the report submitted by active membership probe committee at the ongoing CWC meeting being held at the party’s headquarters in Sanepa.

CWC members close to senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba have expressed support for the implementation of the report, saying the party cannot afford to further waste time on the issue of active membership keeping in view the local conventions beginning from January 29.

Some CWC members, close to party president Sushil Koirala, however, took strong exception to the report. CWC members, including Dilendra Prasad Badu, Bal Bahadur KC and Pharmullha Mansur, said the report deprived many promising cadres from getting active membership.

Some others, including Mohammad Aftab Alam, Pradip Paudel and Guru Raj Ghimire suggested to the party to settle the dispute over active membership at the local level or to accept only those who were listed as active members during the party’s 12th National General Convention.

Leaders close to Deuba, including Gopal Man Shrestha, Bimalendra Nidhi, Balkrishna Khand, Shankar Bhandari, said the party should not get entangled in a dispute over active membership and should accept the report of the probe committee.

“The probe committee submitted its report as per the mandate of the party’s CWC. Although there may still be disputes in some districts, we should not further complicate the situation as the party’s National General Convention is nearing,” Nidhi told the CWC meeting, according to sources.

Youth leader Gagan Thapa suggested that the party should replace the system of general and active membership. “The party has been embroiled in a dispute for long as there is a tendency among party members to give active membership to members close to them.

So, the party should do away with separate membership categories and issue membership to all. However, the party should set a criteria while issuing such membership,” Thapa said.

CWC members from various districts have been expressing their discontent with the report, according to CWC member Krishna Chandra Nepali. Party leaders would find a middle way to resolve the dispute, he said.

The NC has nearly doubled the number of its active members to 470,655. A three-member Active Membership Probe Committee led by Narahari Acharya had submitted its report on the dispute over active membership at the party’s CWC meeting yesterday.

The CWC will resume at 2:00 pm tomorrow.