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NC patches up factional differences

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KATHMANDU, June 16: The nearly nine-month long intra-party row in the Nepali Congress (NC) has finally come to end after the party president, Sushil Koirala, on Friday addressed the concerns raised by the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led faction over the formation of ad hoc committees of various sister organizations.



The rival faction, which had been boycotting the party´s Central Working Committee (CWC) meetings since September 20, has decided to participate in the meetings from now on. The next CWC meeting is scheduled for Monday. [break]



The patch-up came after NC President Koirala inducted from the Deuba side an additional 20 members into the ad hoc committee of Nepal Students Union and six members each into the ad hoc committees of Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Women´s Association.



"There were differences in the party after the dissolution of the working committees of various sister organizations. These differences have now been settled," said Bimalendra Nidhi, a senior leader close to the Deuba faction. "We will now start attending the CWC meetings, which we had been boycotting because of the row over sister organizations."



Nidhi said that the parliamentary party board, the disciplinary committee and other bodies of the party should be constituted through consensus to keep party unity intact. "We believe that the formation of other party bodies should be carried out gradually through consensus between the two sides," he said.



The Deuba faction had initially demanded that the party establishment induct 25 additional members into the NSU ad hoc committee and ensure that the presidents of the Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Women´s Association enjoy a slim majority in members, as preconditions for settling the row.



With the inclusion of an additional 20 members, the total number of members from the Deuba side in the 121-member NSU ad hoc committee has now reached 48. Likewise, the Deuba side now has 23 members including the chiefs in the 45-member ad hoc committees of the Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Women´s Association.

Koirala had taken a decision to include additional members in the ad hoc committees of NSU, Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Women´s Association after Nidhi submitted a list of members to be included in the student bodies Friday afternoon as per the understanding reached between the two sides a few days ago.



The Deuba faction has been boycotting the CWC meeting ever since party President Koirala dissolved the working committees of the seven sister organizations including NSU, Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Women´s Association on September 20, 2011.



Deuba tendered his resignation from party CWC membership eight days later, apparently to show his displeasure over the move.

The long-running stand-off had seemingly come to an end after Koirala and Deuba agreed to name the chiefs of seven various sister organizations including the NSU on February 5.



As per the understanding reached between the two sides, the establishment side picked the chiefs of Nepal Students Union, the Nepal Association of Fighters for Democracy and Nepal Peasants Association. Likewise, the Deuba side named the chiefs of Nepal Tarun Dal, Nepal Women´s Association, Nepal Aaadibasi Janajati Sangh and Nepal Rastriya Magar Sangh.



The patch-up of intra-party difference, however, was short-lived as all 28 members from the Deuba side resigned en masse after the party´s establishment faction formed a 101-member ad hoc committee of the NSU, breaching the previous agreement to form just a 61-member ad hoc committee.


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