Kathmandu, September 3:

Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala told his party colleagues that they need not worry about the past and focus on the future as the party would be able to overcome all the challenges it has been facing at present.

He was addressing the party CWC meeting today for the first time since the meeting began week. According to party spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC, Koirala also said the party’s role in the peace process and successful holding of Constituent Assembly (CA) polls were important achievements for the country even though the party lost the polls badly.

“It is better to look forward than to worry about the past,” KC quoted Koirala as saying. During the past week many CWC members directly or indirectly criticised the party leadership for the poll debacle, saying that lack of intra-party democracy was one of the reasons for it’s poor performance. The octogenarian leader also claimed that the NC steered the peace process based on BP Koirala’s principle of national reconciliation and the party was still in favour of consensus and collaboration.

Koirala said there were many forces in the past that viewed the NC as enemy number one but the NC annihilated those forces and would do the same to any force that sees the party as an enemy, according to KC.

Koirala also urged the leaders to forget the bitterness of the past and work to rejuvenate the party unitedly.

Narahari Acharya was not encouraged by Koirala’s statement though. “His spirit is commendable but there is nothing new. The most important thing is that the party should take decisions based on discussions in the CWC meeting,” he said.

Sher Bahadur Deuba, acting president Sushil Koirala, and vice presidents Gopal Man Shrestha and Ram Chandra Poudel also spoke in the meeting today.

The CWC is expected to adopt a political resolution tomorrow. The party’s publicity department chief and CA member Purushottam Basnet said the party would form

more than a dozen committees. According to him, there would be separate committees to recommend party’s position on new constitution, federalism, Maoists’ atrocities and peace pacts.

Basnet said the NC would express its concern about Maoists’ continued atrocities, non-committal to peace pacts and democracy.

“It seems the Maoists are not committed to parliamentary democracy as it has removed the ministry of parliamentary affairs,” Basnet commented. Formerly known as Ministry for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Maoists have rechristened it as Ministry of Law and Constituent Assembly.

The NC is also likely to form a committee to suggest amendment to the party’s parliamentary party statute.

Acharya said the party leaders were ready to do all other things but averse to fix a date for general convention till now.

“The party cannot generate new spirit in the rank and file unless it fixes the general convention,” Acharya said.