Kathmandu, November 6

The Nepali Congress today inducted Bijay Kumar Gachhadar as vice-president, while the rival faction accused Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba of flouting the party statute.

Senior leader Ramchandra Paudel, former general secretary Prakash Man Singh and Arjun Narsingh KC said in a meeting of the NC Central Working Committee that although they were not opposed to Gachhadar’s appointment, the decision did not follow due process in line with the party statute.

The NC statute provisions only one vice-president and the post is already held by Bimalendra Nidhi. Moreover, the statute provisions appointment of vice-president from among elected members of the CWC. Gachhadar is not an elected CWC member, but an invitee member.

Former general secretary Singh said Deuba flouted all statute provisions in the name of ‘political decision’. Singh said there was nothing wrong in implementing the agreement reached with Gachhadar before unification of the NC and the then Nepal Loktantrik Forum led by Gachhadar, but due process should have been followed. “Flouting the statute will only lead to the party’s decline,” Singh told THT.

Just ahead of the provincial and parliamentary elections in November last year, Gachhadar had merged his then NLF with the NC on condition that he would be made NC vice-president.

Although today’s CWC formed a five-member ‘integration committee’ led by Vice-president Nidhi to complete the merger process, Singh said the panel should have been formed before naming Gachhadar. He said the committee should have first discussed how Gachhadar could be appointed as the party’s vice-president, and the same committee should have recommended him for the post.

But a proposal to appoint Gachhadar as vice-president was presented in the CWC all of a sudden without necessary homework, said NC CWC member Nabindra Raj Joshi. “Today’s decision set a bad precedent. Anybody can be appointed as office bearer any time,” Joshi told THT.

On the other hand, the establishment faction said since it was a ‘transitional arrangement’, it demanded ‘political process’. “We cannot only look at statute provisions in such situations, we also need to be practical,” said NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma.

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