The Deuba faction argued that it would not be proper to field Paudel again as candidate for prime minister because he failed to secure majority votes even after 16 rounds of voting in parliament. [break]
“It is not necessary to field Paudel again as candidate as the party´s central working committee has decided to withdraw his candidacy,” said Gopal Man Shrestha, a close confidant of Deuba.
An emergency meeting of NC Central Working Committee on Wednesday had decided to withdraw Paudel´s candidacy after the UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML decided to vote against Paudel. Paudel failed to garner majority votes in the parliament even after 16 rounds of voting as two major parties stayed neutral purportedly to bring about a consensus government.
Shrestha said Paudel´s chapter is now over and the party should find a new candidate from within the party. “We are not ready to accept Paudel´s candidacy again,” he said. “We voted for Paudel during 16 rounds of elections, but we don´t want to vote for him anymore.”
The Deuba faction has maintained that since the party will have to form a coalition government with the support from other political parties, anyone from the party who could garner support could be the prime ministerial candidate. “Paudel cannot be made prime ministerial candidate just because Sushil Koirala wants it,” Shrestha further said.
Related story
NC’s Poudel faction faces difficulty to choose a common candida...
