With the end of the pandemic not in sight, these are testing times for the business sector the world over. It is no different in Nepal.

On Sunday, Nepal’s business sector got a new leadership. With incumbent senior vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry stepping up to the presidency, as per its statute, the elections held on Saturday had all eyes on the fight for the position of the new senior vice-president.

Incoming president Shekhar Golchha had openly opposed newly-elected senior vice-president Chandra Prasad Dhakal. But now they have to work together on behalf of the business community.

This may be easier said than done.

“Those who contested for the top leadership may have made promises to lobby with the government in their interest or to give certain roles in the federation,” said Hemanta Dabadi, who had served as director general of the federation for many years. “Therefore this struggle to accommodate the rival faction may invite further bad blood within the federation.”

The animosity between Dhakal and Golchha has a history.

A faction within the federation, in which Golchha believes Dhakal was involved, had unsuccessfully sought to amend the provision that paves the way for senior vice-president to become president automatically. In the 2017 federation election, Dhakal had contested from Golchha’s panel for the post of vice-president and won.

But talking to the Post, Golchha said that there is no rivalry anymore.

“During the elections, the panels were created but they should not exist after the elections are over,” said Golchha. “Dhakal is one of the most successful businesspersons and I hope to get full cooperation from him. Whatever knowledge he has will be beneficial for the private sector.”

While Golchha belongs to one of Nepal’s oldest business and industrial houses, Dhakal is a relative newcomer, who began with a cargo business but now has interests in banking, insurance, tourism and hydropower, among others. Dhakal is also the brain behind the International Money Express, or IME, group that started in 2001.

While the Golchhas have traditionally been close to the Nepali Congress as they are based in Biratnagar—the ancestral home of the Koiralas who nurtured the party, Dhakal is considered to be close to the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leadership.

But now, Dhakal, too, similarly has made a conciliatory note.

“There will be no more panels in the federation,” Dhakal told the Post. “The newly elected leadership will work to serve the interest of the entire private sector.”

The challenges for the federation are huge. It needs to lobby hard with the government for policies that will revive the economy and such policies may be needed for years, according to a study by the government.

The business community expects that both factions will now move forward together in the interest of the businesses.

“I think it is time to be united to pursue the interests of the business community in the wake of Covid-19,” said Pashupati Muraka, former president of the federation, who had lobbied against Dhakal.

“As Dhakal will be automatically elected president next term, he has no need to keep his faction alive. Therefore, businesspersons from both factions will unite under the leadership of Golchha.”

Dabadi, however, says it will be difficult for any leadership to remove the substance of rivalry even after the elections are over, even if they promise to go together.

The reason for Dabadi’s doubts is history at the federation.

When the two factions led by former vice-presidents Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Pradeep Jung Pandey contested for the post of president in 2014, before the current provision of the senior vice-president was introduced in 2016, the feud remained even after the elections were over. And Pandey won.

The Pandey faction later blamed the Rajkarnikar faction for the arrest and subsequent jail term for the newly-elected Pandey in 2015.

Pandey was arrested in March 2015, and imprisoned for three months before he was released through a presidential pardon, for not serving a jail term despite being convicted of corruption when he was an employee at the Department of Water Supply and Sewage in the 1980s.

After he was jailed, Pandey was removed from the presidency and Pashupati Murarka was elected president for the remaining term. The federation’s statute was subsequently amended following that incident of bad blood.

But at present, both Golchha and Dhakal have an enemy in the form of the pandemic.

In conversation with the Post, both the incoming president and newly-elected senior vice-president said that their focus would be on negotiating with the government to provide relief for businesses suffering from the pandemic.

Although the private sector as a whole has suffered badly from the pandemic, micro, small and medium enterprises and tourism industry have been hit the hardest.

The government and the central bank have introduced a number of relief packages, which are mostly related to debt relief, but the private sector says the support is not enough.

“My first focus will be to negotiate with the government to provide relief for the businesses suffering from the pandemic,” said Golchha.

Working in the interests of the private sector will aid the whole of the economy, observers say.

“The federation’s leadership can guide the government to introduce policy that helps the entire economy,” said Dabadi. “For this, it is necessary that they make policy recommendations based on the findings of research rather than the interests of different people at the Federation.”

This is what Golchha says he will do.

“I will establish a think tank at the federation soon.”