Congress postpones CWEC meeting

Kathmandu, February 21

A meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Work Execution Committee scheduled for tomorrow morning has been postponed until further notice following pressure from leaders close to senior NC leader Ramchandra Paudel who are demanding reconstitution of the committee stating that it was formed in violation of the party statute.

Concluding that the root cause of problems in the party was the leadership’s failure to abide by the party statute, the leaders have launched a campaign to pressure NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba to abide strictly by the party statute in running the party.

The CWEC meeting was supposed to expedite the process of selecting the parliamentary party leader by setting up an election panel. However, NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma said the meeting was postponed due to lack of preparations. “Some tasks such as drafting of statute for selection of PP leader remain,” he said. However, senior NC leader Ramchandra Paudel said that the party would directly go to the Central Working Committee meeting, which was the need of the hour, in a day or two. “There’s no need to hold CWEC meet now,” said Paudel.

Exercise is also under way to select a PP leader unanimously to ensure party unity in the changed context after the party’s humiliating defeat in provincial and parliamentary elections at the hands of the left alliance of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre.

So far, three leaders — Deuba, Shashank Koirala and Prakash Man Singh — are in the fray for the post of PP leader. While Koirala has said he will file is candidacy only if he is elected unanimously, Singh has said that Deuba should not be allowed to be elected unopposed and that he was ready to contest the election against Deuba.

According to an NC leader, most probably it will be Deuba versus Singh in the PP leader election. “Although we have not got a clear indication from the president, chances are a PP leader will be selected unanimously to ensure unity and strengthen the party,” said the NC leader.