KATHMANDU, Mar 1: At a time when the four-year term of current office-bearers of the party is set to expire in a couple of days, Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba formed 13 central departments of the party amid protest from the rival factions on Saturday.
Deuba formed the sister organizations by picking leaders loyal to him as their heads after rival factions refused to give names of candidates from their sides. A press statement issued by the party's chief secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel says that they were appointed as per clause 37(1c) of the party's statute.
Deuba has picked Gopal Man Shrestha as chief the party's Organization Department, while Ramesh Rijal has received the party's Federal Affairs and Province Coordination Department. Similarly, Bishwa Prakash Sharma has been entrusted with the responsibility of the head of Information, Communication and Publicity Department.
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Deuba, likewise, has picked Pharmullaha Mansur, Arjun Prasad Joshi, Shankar Bhandari, Sita Gurung, Ajaya Kumar Chaurasiya and Mahendra Yadav to head the party's Muslim Department, Indigenous Nationalities Department, Tarai-Madesh Department and Transport Entrepreneurs Coordination Department, respectively.
Similarly, the party's Central Working Committee members Ananda Prasad Dhungana has been chosen to head Financial and Cooperative Institutions Coordination Department, while Arjun Prasad Joshi has been asked to head Local Level Coordination Department. Likewise, Shankar Bhandari, Gobinda Bhattarai, Chin Kaji Shrestha and Shiva Prasad Humagain have been appointed as heads of the party's Tarun Department, Nepali Liasion Committee Coordination Department, Industry and Commerce Department and Labor and Trade Union Department, respectively.
Dhungana, Bhattarai and Shrestha were elected as the party's CWC members from Poudel faction during the 13th general convention, while Humagain was nominated as the CWC member from Krishna Prasad Sitaula-led faction. Humagain had lately grown close to party President Deuba.
A senior leader of the establishment faction said they were forced to form the party's central departments by picking the leaders from their own faction. “Since the Paudel faction repeatedly refused to give any names despite our repeated calls, we have decided to give responsibility to some of our friends to our party's central departments,” said the leader, asking not to be named.
The Paudel faction has maintained that it is a worthless exercise to form the party's organization as the party has already unveiled the calendar of events to host the 14th general convention by March next year.
In addition to nominating chiefs of various departments within the party, President Deuba has also appointed Krishna Kishor Ghimire (Dang), Gopal Kumar Basnet (Jhapa), Sudhir Kumar Siwakoti (Jhapa), Manohar Narayan Shrestha (Dhankuta) and Dhruba Wagle (Tanahu) as invited member of the party's CWC.
