Sushil triumphs in Nepali Congress in opting for CA elections

Chitra Raj Bhandari, KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala on Wednesday succeeded in endorsing his decision to opt for fresh elections rather than resurrecting the Constituent Assembly (CA).

Sushil faced strong opposition from his party comrades, that included senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, his deputy Ram Chandra Paudel and another influential leader of the party Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, in endorsing the decision.

Factions of the party led by these leaders had tried to foil Sushil’s attempt so as to endorse their decision for resurrecting the CA by cooperating with the UCPN Maoist and other parties.

“The party has decided to go for CA/Legislative elections,” party leaders Arjun Narsingh KC said after the party’s central committee meeting held at the party head office in Lalitpur on Wednesday.

“We have decided to go for elections in April/May,” KC said adding that the leaders mentioned above had stressed on “not sticking only to elections but remaining open to other options including CA resurrection.”

Though the party ultimately decided to go for elections, Paudel had tried to convince the leadership that CA resurrection was inevitable even for holding elections. But Sushil and the establishment side crushed Paudel and his lots’ argument.

The decision has now clearly positioned the main opposition party in confrontation with the main ruling party UCPN Maoist that has been trying hard to persuade opposition as well as its ruling ally- Madheshi Morcha- to opt for CA resurrection.

Along with the decision, the party has concluded that the dissolution of the incumbent Bhattarai led government and formation of a consensus government is essential to bring full budget and to chart out the plan for holding elections.

“The government does not have constitutional and political ground for continuing,” party spokesperson Dilendra Prasad Badu said adding that the “leadership of the consensus government can be decided later through mutual understanding”.

Badu said that his party has grounds to claim the leadership of the consensus government but added that the party has decided to remain flexible on the issue for garnering political consensus.