The Nepali Congress, the largest party in the federal and provincial parliaments as well the local level, has concluded that the public has misconceptions about it, arising from the flow of illusionary messages about the party’s policy and leadership.

Releasing the findings of a nationwide campaign carried out by the party from August 5 to 15, Min Bishwokarma, head of the party’s publicity department, said that due to the unfounded accusations made against the party and its leadership by opposition parties, the party was weakened.

The findings also blame the internal rift for the party’s challenged position in national politics. Grassroots workers of the party also question why the Congress ministers in government had been performing poorly. The party has eight ministers in the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government.

Despite several good features of the party including its democratically elected leadership, factionalism and unhealthy competition among the interest groups have created complexities for the party’s functioning, according to the findings released by the party on Tuesday.

The Nepali Congress has earned the trust of the people, the party said in a statement, quoting the findings of the 10-day-long nationwide campaign. But leaders and cadres 0f the party across the country believe that internal rift, organisational mismanagement and tussle in the party leadership had diminished the party’s prospects in some of the past elections.

The party had sent representatives to 77 districts from among those who are not members of the federal and provincial parliaments in order to assess people’s perceptions of the party’s role in the government.

The Nepali Congress had gone to the polls last year by leaving several seats in the federal, provincial and local elections to other alliance partners. The decision taken by the central leadership without heeding the suggestions of a large section of the party created dissatisfaction even among the party’s central leaders.

Despite several odds, the party emerged on top from all three tiers of elections. The results have sent a positive message to the public, the statement issued by Bishwokarma claimed. After the elections though, accusations by some opposition parties that the Nepali Congress was weakened due to its policy and leadership have swayed even the party’s leaders and cadres, it added. “Some opposition parties are creating deep illusion and confusion against our party and widely circulating such views among the public.”

The findings stated that some elected representatives had taken the dissatisfaction in the party to the general public, causing more frustration among the party workers.

Some political parties without ideology, organisational base, issues, policy and programmes used this opportunity to attack the party that has over seven decades of history and led several popular movements, according to the statement.

Identifying the party’s weakness, the report said the Nepali Congress had failed to organise several meetings for long after the elections. This gave rise to frustration among leaders and cadres who randomly expressed their views in public against the party and its leadership.

Shaken by the party’s internal assessment, eight Congress ministers in the Pushpa Kamal Dahal government on Tuesday met at the chamber of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Purna Bahadur Khadka to discuss ways for better coordination among themselves on various issues including the provision of relief to the public. This is the first joint meeting of the Nepali Congress ministers after they joined the Dahal-led Cabinet in March-end.

The meeting explored ways to make the government’s functioning effective, to have proper coordination between party lawmakers, leaders and cadres in the future, said Foreign Minister NP Saud.

The Congress rank and file has been accusing the ministers of shutting their eyes and ears to people’s hardships and grievances while lacking coordination with the party, corruption and irregularities in governance. Party members also charge their ministers with lack of coordination while preparing bills related to various crucial issues. They have raised concern about the government being discredited by several scandals, scams and corruption cases. According to Congress leaders, these issues also figured in the central working committee meeting of the party held from July 18 to 26.

There are serious complaints against the Congress ministers that they have failed to make an impact despite having the biggest share in government, a Nepali Congress leader said. “Some serious questions have been raised by the party rank and file about the performance of the government and, most importantly, of the Congress ministers.”

The ministers also reportedly discussed their moves to foil the strategy of the main opposition CPN-UML against the government. Saud said they had decided to have better coordination among the ministries for effective governance.