Before the election, Deuba had agreed to cede the prime minister’s office to Dahal. But the NC leader was reluctant to honor the agreement after the election results were out.
After several rounds of negotiation ended in a stalemate, Dahal did the unexpected and went on to form a coalition with his archrival KP Sharma Oli of UML. The incident sent shock waves through the NC’s rank and file. There was widespread criticism against Deuba for breaking the coalition. Some party leaders even demanded his resignation as the party chief. Fearful of potential backlash, Deuba postponed the party’s Central Working Committee meeting and started damage control with his close aides. He deputed a team of leaders to dismantle Maoist-UML coalition and turn the political tide in the favor of NC. NC Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka, a close aide of Deuba, says their singular mission over the past two months was to engineer a rift between Dahal and Oli. It started with the party’s decision to give Prime Minister Dahal the vote of confidence in January. The move by the Congress leadership created a major dispute in the party. Leaders like Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma even registered notes of dissent against Deuba’s move terming it undemocratic, as it would render the parliament without an official opposition. But giving Dahal the trust vote was a masterstroke on Deuba’s part. The move not only drove a wedge between UML and Maoists, it also helped Deuba get an upper hand over the rival leaders within his own party. Khadka says now the Congress will now join the Dahal government as a key coalition partner and handle some key portfolios. Ramesh Rijal, central working committee member of NC, agrees that Deuba outdid his political rivals both inside and outside the party. He has effectively swatted aside his rivals in the party and gained more space to consolidate his power as an undisputed party head. Deuba’s supporters say the rival camps in the Congress have nothing against the party president now. They say even his strongest critics are now praising him. The NC leader has also registered a personal victory by nominating his long-time rival Ram Chandra Poudel as a presidential candidate. Some party leaders say with Poudel out of the way, his supporters are bound to join the Deuba faction rather than the rival camp led by Shekhar Koirala. If anything, they say Deuba is likely to become more powerful. He has emerged out of the December 25 fiasco with more strength. Deuba even managed to convince his rivals including Koirala and Thapa to work together to break up the UML-Maoist government partnership and revive the pre-election coalition. Thapa had acted as an intermediary between Deuba and Dahal. It was the job of the Congress general secretary to convince the Maoist prime minister of a long-term partnership. Previously, Thapa was among the NC leaders who were against the idea of even forging an electoral alliance with the Maoist party. He now seems upbeat with the revival of the Maoist-NC coalition. He said Tuesday that Congress has realized its mistake and that the party was committed to work together with the Maoists. The path ahead, he added, was rocky and that the two parties must remain steadfast to continue the alliance for the next five years. One NC leader says it is a sign that Deuba’s decisions will prevail in the party from now on. Political analysts also agree that Deuba has emerged a major victor by steering the party back to power and silencing his rivals. Analyst Bishnu Dahal says Poudel’s nomination as a presidential candidate will prompt more party leaders to take a softer approach toward Deuba. As Deuba’s rival Poudel did not get anything, adds Dahal, but after he supported Deuba by standing down from the leadership race during NC’s 14th general convention in 2021, he got to become the presidential candidate. Dahal says to further enhance his position in Congress, Deuba could pick ministerial candidates from the rival camps in the party. Now that the NC has regained a semblance of unity, some party leaders say the party leadership should think about reforming its departments and sister organizations. In 2021, the party had pledged to hold a separate convention to decide the party’s ideological path but there has not been any progress. NC leader Nain Singh Mahar says this is a perfect opportunity to revitalize the party. The return to power should not put all party related activities on the back burner, he adds.
