Senior Nepali Congress leaders will participate in a crucial Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Sunday that is expected to discuss the amendment of party statute. The faction led by President Sher Bahadur Deuba and the rival camp of Ram Chandra Poudel could  manoeuvre strategically to ensure that the amendments favour their respective sides.

The meeting is also expected to pave the way for the commencement of Mahasamiti meeting scheduled for next month. The Mahasamiti meeting has not taken place since Deuba took over in March 2016.

According to the party sources, the issue of raising the number of party’s office bearers, including the CWC members will be the bone of contention between the rival factions.

While Poudel led faction backed by the Koirala family is making preparations to pressurise the party leadership to increase the number of members, the Deuba camp is reportedly not in a mood to do so. President Deuba is said to be in favour of scrapping the provision of active membership and introducing the provision of general membership.

Increasing the number of CWC in particular, according to analyst Puranjan Acharya, will make the rival faction stronger which is why Deuba is against it.

“On the other hand, replacing the provision of active membership with general membership can also help the establishment faction mobilise members at the grassroots level in its favour since it has the upper hand in the party operation,” Acharya said in a recent interview with the Post. Besides, the issue of Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) is also likely figure in the meeting.

A CWC meeting on Sunday had extended the tenure of the NSU executive committee by two months.

The term was added for the second time after the Nain Singh Mahar-led union

failed to hold its general convention within the designated time. The establishment

faction went ahead with the decision through majority voting even though Poudel faction had sought formation of an ad-hoc committee for electing the leadership. A separate NC faction led by Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Arjun Narsingh KC had lobbied for extension of the NSU term by six months.  

The issue of forthcoming NSU general convention, which is among the most

crucial sister organisations of the party, is hence expected to be discussed in Sunday’s the meeting, though it has not been listed as part of the agenda. NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat said that despite having major differences, the party statute cannot be approved without consensus, as the process requires a two-third majority.

“There is no alternate to consensus for endorsing the party statute,” he said.

KC likens Deuba to a dictator

RUPANDEHI: Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narsingh KC has accused party President Sher Bahadur Deuba of running the party like a dictator. Speaking at a press conference organised by Nepal Press Union in Rupandehi on Saturday, he said the NC has become a person-oriented instead of becoming institution-oriented party. KC stressed on developing the party in an institutionalised manner as per the party statute. (RSS)