Leaders have already intensified meetings to become the Parliamentary Party leader.
The Parliamentary Party leader of the Nepali Congress will be the future prime minister of the country. Leaders have started forming factions like during the party’s general convention. Half-a-dozen leaders of the Nepali Congress are eyeing the post. Party President Deuba, senior leader Paudel, Dr Shashanka Koirala, Dr Shekhar Koirala, Gagan Thapa and Prakash Man Singh have been expressing their desire to become the Parliamentary Party leader. Deuba has been urging the leaders, who have come to meet him in Baluwatar, to help him in the Parliamentary Party race. He, however, is preparing to formally claim the post of Parliamentary Party leader after the results of the proportional representation category. His only objective is to become the prime minister again in the to be formed coalition government. Deuba has intensified consultations with the newly elected lawmakers to become the Parliamentary Party leader. Nepali Congress secured 57 seats in the election to the House of Representatives. Out of 50 leaders, who had filed candidacies from the establishment faction, 29 emerged victorious. Of the 29 leaders, who contested the election from the Shekhar-Gagan faction, 18 won the election while six people close to Shashanka and Ram Chandra became the members of the Parliament. Likewise, four leaders close to Prakash Man Singh managed to win the HoR seats. As per the results, there is a high chance that incumbent Prime Minister Deuba will win the election of Parliamentary Party leader. Party spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat, who is close to Deuba, claimed that Prime Minister Deuba will be the Parliamentary Party leader as he has a majority in the party. Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka, a lieutenant of Deuba, said that the leaders should not find the alternative of Deuba in the Parliamentary Party leader. Saying that the coalition went into the election under the leadership of Deuba, he said that the leaders should support him when he desires for the post. “There is a responsibility to take the parties including the alliance ahead by uniting the Nepali Congress,” he said. Deuba had asked the support of Dr Shashanka Koirala, who had reached the Capital by winning the election on Tuesday, in the election to the Parliamentary Party leader. In response, Koirala said, “There is some time on the issue. We will keep on discussing the matter.” Deuba has been sending his close confidante Purna Bahadur Khadka to meet the party leaders by making his messenger. Shekhar Koirala, however, has not staked claim for the post yet. Similarly, some sections of leaders, who have been demanding generational transfer, have been saying that the party should go to the government under the headship of General Secretary Gagan Thapa. Saying that the party has lost not only the proportional representation election but also 23 constituencies it won in the previous election under the first-past-the-post category, “The party had to lose many seats. Now, the senior leaders have to feel that the leaders of the new generation should be given an opportunity to lead the party.” Meanwhile, another General Secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma is also in favor of making Thapa the party’s parliamentary party leader.
