NC third front losing steam?

KATHMANDU, Aug 30: With a majority of Nepali Congress (NC) central leaders preoccupied with securing berths in the Central Working Committee (CWC), only a few senior leaders have opted to join forces with the party´s third front that announced last week to field the candidacy of Bhim Bahadur Tamang for the post of party president.



The front was said to have a total of 19 CWC members of the party in its fold. However, only four CWC members, including presidential candidate Tamang and general secretary candidate Narahari Acharya, are out openly in the front. Two other CWC members in the front are Chakra Bastola and Suprabha Ghimire. [break]



Altogether 19 “like-minded” CWC members had formed a loose alliance on the eve of Mahasamiti meeting last year to discuss ways to strengthen the party. They included Arjun Narsingh KC, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Pradip Giri, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Mahesh Acharya, Binaya Dhwaj Chand, Govinda Raj Joshi, Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, Bala Bahadur KC and Chiranjeevi Wagle.



Laxman Ghimire, Chitra Lekha Yadav, Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, Dr Narayan Khadka, Umakanta Chaudhary and Amar Raj Kaini were also among those in the alliance.



Just a day before announcing their candidacies for president and general secretary on August 22, altogether nine CWC members in the front including Mahesh Acharya, Minendra Rijal, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, and Dr Narayan Khadka had held a meeting at the residence of Chakra Prasad Bastola.



Following the announcement even those attending the meeting have pulled out of the front, saying the candidacies were announced without consulting them.



Sources said a majority of leaders present at the meeting were positive about fielding candidacies, though not for the post of president in the general convention scheduled for September 17-21. They said that it was already late to file candidacy for the post of president.



Chakra Prasad Bastola, one of the architects of the third front, denied that they had just four CWC members in the front. “We do not want to be seen as a group or block,” said Bastola. “We have friends who would follow us later. Only those who are able to free themselves of greed and fear are with us now.”



Party insiders believe that many CWC members in the “loose alliance” have chosen not to come forward publicly in the front as they are waiting to see if Koirala or Deuba would give them space in the CWC. They claimed that a large number of senior leaders would join the front once the list of Koirala and Deuba is made public.



koshraj@myrepublica.com

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