Kathmandu, October 24:

While the president of the Nepali Congress (NC), Girija Prasad Koirala, has given an indication that he wants to see his daughter Sujata as the next leader, the move has come under strident attack from a section of the party which is averse to transition of the leadership from father to the daughter.

The fact that Koirala is in favour of his daughter taking the reins of the party becomes evident from the way he turned his back on the much talked-about probables like Ram Chandra Paudel and Shailja Acharya. Sushil Koirala, who has been picked up as his deputy, is being billed as a transitional figure by insiders.

And the fact that leaders like Paudel, Acharya, Chakra Bastola, Arjun Narsingh KC, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and Mahesh Acharya are having less and less say in the affairs of the party indicates they may not have any say at all when it comes to picking up a successor. So much so that there is no unanimity even among the members of the Koirala family on Sujata being chosen as the next leader. Apart from Shailja, Dr Shashank Koirala, who is the youngest son of BP Koirala, has also been ignored when making organisational appointments, indicating that he, too, much like Shailja, does not appear to be in Koirala’s good books. Elder brother Prakash has parted ways and has even joined the current government. Predictably, while Sujata, who grabbed the ninth position in the election, takes Foreign Affairs Department, Dr Shashank, who was third after Paudel, has no party post. Sushil Koirala, who grew up heading the Foreign Affairs Department, along with Govind Raj Joshi and a large section of the appointed CWC members “ is working on a script” that will make “Sujata a leader one day.”

However, the appointments could cost the party dear as those who have reacted coldly to the latest move of including “rejected faces,” including Joshi and ten others, into the CWC may not cooperate with Koirala. All the 58 district unit chiefs had also warned against the idea of inducting “rejected faces” into the CWC.

Meanwhile, the section of the central leaders who have started “feeling insecure” could be either falling in line or making plans to protect their future political interests. Those who have started speaking are Bhim Bahadur Tamang and Arjun Narsingh KC and the tempo could rise “since the selfish policy is likely to affect the movement.”