At a time when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has publicly vowed to reshuffle his Cabinet, the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the government, is reviewing the performance of its ministers.

The primary agenda of the party’s central working committee meeting that convenes on Thursday is to review and assess the performance of nine ministers who are currently serving in the Dahal government, said party leaders.

The party has nine Cabinet ministers, including a deputy prime minister, in the Dahal government.

As Dahal completes one year in office, coalition partners Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party are under pressure to review and assess the performance because the government is weighed down by a series of scandals, corruption cases, poor governance and service delivery, mounting public frustration.

The meeting will primarily review and assess the performance of the Congress ministers, said Min Bishwakarma, head of the party’s publicity department. Prime Minister Dahal, in his address to the nation on Tuesday, said that he would change his work style and that the non-performing ministers would be replaced.

All nine ministers are told to come up with their report cards in the meeting which is expected to last three days, Bishwakarma said. To discuss the agendas of the meeting, Bishwakarma along with two secretary generals of the party, Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, went to meet party President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday morning.

In the meeting, Deuba sought the three leaders’ feedback on Prime Minister Dahal’s address to the nation. Both Thapa and Sharma commented that Dahal’s address was sentimental; Deuba responded that the prime minister lied to the country by giving false accounts, hope, and data, according to another Nepali Congress leader.

As the Congress ministers have completed ten months in the government, this meeting is going to be crucial for them, another central committee member said. This will set a tone for who will be replaced and who will continue. Largely, there is discontent inside the party about the ministers’ performance but it is Deuba and the prime minister who decide their fate, the leader said. Once the ministers complete their presentation, there will be a question-answer session among the ministers and central working committee members, said Bishwakarma.

The meeting will also discuss the possible agendas of the upcoming Mahasamiti meeting to be held from February 19 to 22. In view of the National Assembly elections scheduled for January 25, there is also a call from different sections of the party to come up with the criteria to pick the party’s candidates. Out of the 20 vacant seats in the Assembly, one seat is filled with a candidate appointed by the President. Out of the 19 seats, the Congress, which is preparing to contest the polls in alliance with coalition partners, is claiming nine seats.

A meeting of the party’s incumbent and former office bearers has instructed the Congress provincial committees to recommend three names from each province. However, around 50 possible candidates have been recommended from each province. The Koshi provincial committee of the party has recommended the names of 63 Congress leaders including former home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, former defence minister Minendra Rijal, and former finance minister Mahesh Acharya, among others. The Karnali provincial committee has recommended the names of 92 Congress leaders as possible candidates for the election while there is only one candidate likely to be fielded by the party. The Bagmati provincial committee has recommended the names of 91 individuals from diverse professional backgrounds.

Each province has a long list of aspirants, so the party has decided to set the criteria, said an office bearer.

Amid the talk of senior leaders like Sitaula, Gopal Man Shrestha, and Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Deuba has told some of his close confidants that he will pick candidates with a history of contribution to the party who have not received such opportunities in the past. A team of party leaders will draft the criteria, said the office bearer.

The performance of the party’s ministers is poor, said Ram Hari Khatiwada, a Congress lawmaker. The meeting also faces a dispute over who will be the leader second to Deuba in the party hierarchy. Congress Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka and Shekhar Koirala, who challenged Deuba in the party president election during the 14th general convention held in 2021, are the front runners for the senior leader position. The party charter is silent on who deserves the designation.

The prime minister has said in the past few days that he would replace under-performing ministers, said Khatiwada. Though the report card of each Congress minister will be discussed in the meeting, the reshuffling will be made only after the upper house elections, he added. More than the ministers, some Congress leaders such as Koirala, Thapa, Sharma, and Pradeep Paudel have sought a replacement of Prime Minister Dahal himself.

According to Congress leaders, Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, Foreign Minister NP Saud, Health Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Law Minister Dhan Raj Gurung, and Sports Minister Dig Bahadur Limbu are likely to field tough questions at the meeting.