A three-month deadline given to the two panels expired Friday, but the panels have done nothing yet.
Interestingly, the panel coordinators — Gopal Man Shrestha and Chakra Bastola – haven’t yet been given even a single member for their teams. And the state restructuring panel chief has flown off to the without having started any work. Constitution-draft panel chief Bastola, for his part, has just initiated consultations. "I received a formal letter from the party only after the Tihar festival," said Bastola. He said he has started informal consultations with some foreign experts and members of the party’s sister wings. “Though I am still alone in the team, I have started meeting people from various sections of society.”
The Constituent Assembly has already made public a schedule, starting from January, for drafting the constitution, but members of the country´s largest democratic force are still in confusion about what agenda they will push for the new constitution.
The deadline of the KP Sitaula-led panel on changing the party statute also expired without having started any work.
Party spokesman Arjun Narsing KC admits that there has been delay in meeting the deadlines set for party work. “Most of our leaders are outside the capital, and when they arrive back we will reschedule our work and expedite the entire process promptly.”
Though the goals set through formal decisions of the party remain unattained and the official panels are left functionless, the party has carried out a public awareness campaign throughout the country with grand success. Party central leaders reached most of the districts during this period and hit newspaper headlines almost every day. The campaign was not on the priority list though. "Girijababu (party President Girija Prasad Koirala) set the date and decided to launch the campaign with top priority," said a senior CWC member of the party.
It shows how Koirala´s personal convictions prevail over the party’s official decisions. All initiatives for institutional development and internal democracy in the party die instantly when they encounter Koirala´s personal convictions, the member quips. "For example, he says he (Koirala) does not compromise with the basic principles of democracy, including press freedom. He hardly ever says the party won´t tolerate any attack on the principles of democracy."
There has always been a ‘personality cult’, be that of BP Koirala, Subarna Shumsher, Ganesh Man Singh, KP Bhattarai or, in recent years, GP Koirala. GP Koirala’s influence has increased significantly especially after the party’s unification last year. Because of his towering personality combined with his frail health, no one directly opposes what he says.
Party members say the country´s oldest democratic force that led three successful movements for democracy in the last six decades is not running democratically and systematically.
Koirala rejected outright a proposed provision in the parliamentary party (PP) statute last week, and many members said this went against evolving internal democracy in the party. The provision was for getting the PP leader’s choice of deputy leader endorsed by a PP meeting.
"Just drop that provision [on endorsement of nomination for deputy leader] and pass the statute," Koirala was reported to have asked the parliamentarians at a meeting held in Singhadurbar last Monday. As a result, the meeting was postponed till Monday, Dec. 8. The meeting has been postponed again for an indefinite period.
Though party whip Shobhakhar Parajuli said the meeting was postponed because the party´s parliamentarians were busy in their constituencies, the underlying story is rather different. It has a direct bearing on who shall be Koirala´s choice of PP deputy leader.
Once Koirala vies for the post of PP leader, there is slim chance of anyone challenging him. So the second tier leaders are eying the position of Koirala’s deputy.
Koirala wants to see the gradual ascent of his daughter Sujata to party leadership and to line up for party leadership those who will not be a threat to Sujata´s prospects.
yuvraj@myrepublica.com
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