KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 12
Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi, who is contesting the election for party president, told mediapersons that no candidate would secure victory in the first round of elections and if the run-off election happened, all candidates from the rival camp – Prakash Man Singh, Shekhar Koirala, and he himself – would unite against Deuba to elect a new leader.
If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent votes, a runoff election is held between the top two contestants. “During the run-off election, all contenders, barring those belonging to the establishment faction, will join hands,” Nidhi said. He said leadership of the government would change after the NC general convention.
Apart from Nidhi, incumbent President Deuba, Prakash Man Singh, Shekhar Koirala, and Kalyan Gurung are contesting for the top party post. Yuvraj Neupane, the sixth contender for party presidency, withdrew his candidacy today and extended his support to Shekhar Koirala.
Surendra Chaudhary, who had filed his candidacy for joint general secretary, also withdrew his candidacy.
Meanwhile, Shekhar Koirala today issued a manifesto justifying his candidacy for the party’s top post.
He said he would make the rule of law, accountable government, and transparency the party’s key principles for governance.
Stating that the party would seek to make appointments to constitutional bodies on the basis of candidates’ capabilities, Koirala said the tendency to give powerful positions to rich and influential people would be stopped.
He said factionalism had spread from top to bottom and there was a tendency of seeking spoils of opportunity on the basis of factional strength. He said he would end that anomaly.
Koirala said his party would not go against the law and the constitution on any pretext.
Stating that the communist forces posed real risk of autocracy in Nepal, Koirala said there was need for democratisation of Nepali society and honest transformation of the NC.
He said his party would advance moderate ideology as both ultra-leftist and ultra-rightist ideologies were bad for the country.
He said the NC would prohibit corrupt people from joining the party.
Koirala said if he won the party presidency, he would educate party cadres on the party’s ideals and democratic socialism as envisioned by late legendary leader BP Koirala.
Incumbent NC President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is vying for the party presidency for the second time, urged party cadres to vote for him, saying that if he lost party presidency, many would raise moral questions against his leadership in the government.
“People will say how a man who lost party election can run the country,” Deuba said.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 13, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.