Kathmandu, August 13:

A large section of the younger generation of Mahasamiti members in the Nepali Congress (NC) are planning to have their spokesmen in the central working committee (CWC) of the party. Their grouse is that those who occupy key positions “do not work as desired.” Much like party CWC member Narahari Acharya, they are keen to have the term “constitutional monarchy” deleted from the statute of the party. The group, which commands the loyalty of over 400 delegates of the party, is spearheaded by youth leaders Shiv Basnet, Deepak Giri and Chandra Bhandari. While Basnet was a member of the House of Representatives, Giri had contested the parliamentary seat from Dang. Bhandari was an outspoken general secretary of the Nepal Students Union (NSU) in the past. “We cannot tolerate the term ‘constitutional monarchy’ in our statute. We are turning up the heat to have it deleted,” said Bhandari. “We have submitted it in black and white.”

Grumbling that the central leadership had turned the outfit into a clique of sychophants, Bhandari lamented the lack of leaders who could make a difference. He also lamented the exodus of “some promising leaders to the Nepali Congress-Democratic”. The three youth leaders are currently working to evolve a consensus among all youth leaders on basic issues dogging the party. Te group has suggested the party leadership to devise a provision whereby

75 per cent of the central committee posts can be filled by elected members. “We are for intra-party democracy. The current arrangement with 50 per cent handpicked CWC members does not guarantee that,” Bhandari said. Basnet and Giri vociferously echoed his stand. Bhandari also said efforts were underway whereby the general convention of the party would be guided by “ideological considerations” rather than cult or dynastic considerations. He, however, dsipelled notions that the youth rank and file were going against the current leadership.