Senior leader Deuba has asked President Koirala over telephone on Saturday morning to defer the move for at least a week so that a ´package deal´ on the nomination of vice president, general secretary and joint general secretary, 20 CWC members and chiefs of 22 departments in the party can be reached amicably. [break]
Sources said Koirala is set to pick Ram Chandra Poudel for the post of vice president and Krishna Prasad Sitaula for one of two general secretaries in the party despite warnings from the Deuba faction to protest the “unilateral move”. “I will take the proposal to nominate office bears tomorrow [Sunday],” Koirala told Republica over phone Saturday evening.
Koirala had met Deuba at the latter´s residence in Budhanilakantha Friday morning seeking support to nominate party office bearers. “But he did not ask for Deuba´s opinion,” said a senior leader close to Deuba, asking to be unnamed.
Deuba held a meeting of CWC members elected from his camp at his residence Saturday afternoon to discuss their strategy if Koirala chooses to nominate the office bearers “unilaterally”. Influential NC leaders including Khum Bahadur Khadka, Gopal Man Shrestha, Purna Bahadur Khadka and Chitra Lekha Yadav were present at the meeting.
Of the total 64 members including president, general secretary and treasurer elected directly through the 12th general convention, Deuba faction has 29 members in its fold. The faction can easily reject any proposal presented by the party president should disgruntled CWC members choose to do so.
A leader present at the meeting said Deuba urged Koirala to bring the nomination proposal only after reaching a package deal.
“We asked Koirala not to bring any such proposal as rejection of his first proposal at the CWC meeting would send a negative message,” said the leader, asking to be unnamed. “We will protest if he brings the proposal unilaterally despite our requests.”
Of the three office bearers directly elected through the general convention, Koirala has his running mate Prakash Man Singh elected as general secretary. Likewise, Chitra Lekha Yadav from Deuba faction won in the post of the party´s treasurer.
Deuba faction has demanded that they should be given the berth of either vice president or general secretary and joint general secretary to ensure balanced representation of both the factions in the party´s parliamentary party (PP) board. The party´s office bearers automatically become the members of PP board that is entrusted by the party´s statute to pick the party´s candidate for prime minister and also to distribute tickets during the general election.
This alone is not the reason for Deuba faction to protest Koirala´s likely proposal though.
Leaders from Deuba faction are miffed over Paudel´s failure to live up to his words to support the former during the general convention in return for support to his prime ministerial candidacy. “He should have stayed neutral even if he was not in a position to support Deuba,” another leader close to Deuba said, adding: “There is no point in supporting his candidacy.”
Deuba faction has also alleged that Koirala had called the CWC meeting without prior notice. “Normally, all CWC members should be informed about the meeting and its agenda a week in advance,” said another leader close to Deuba. Nearly half dozen CWC members close to Deuba are currently outside Kathmandu Valley.
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