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By Our Reporter

When the ruling Nepal Communist Party managed to avoid split in the party, an intra-party rift is getting widened in the Nepali Congress, just six months before its 14th general convention.

When party president Sher Bahadur Deuba continued to breach the party statute by forming departments and appointing his loyal to them just six months before his extended tenure of party chief is to expire, a rival faction led by Ram Chandra Poudel is now up in arms against the establishment faction. However, the tiny faction led by Krishna Prasad Sitaula seemed taking a middle path to win sympathy from both factions.

In its bold step, the Pudel-led faction on Monday formally registered a protest letter against Deuba at the party’s central office, Sanepa, Lalitpur opposing party president Sher Bahadur Deuba’s unilateral decisions. 

NC Central Working Committee member Nabindra Raj Joshi handed over the protest letter to party chief secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel. Joshi is a leader of the faction led by Paudel. 

The letter demanded a correction of the recent decisions like the formation of the departments taken by party chief Deuba.

The Paudel faction in its protest letter said party chief Deuba formed the departments, expanded them and distributed active membership of the party by breaching the party statute and procedure.

A meeting of the rival faction held on Saturday had decided to submit a protest letter to press party boss Deuba for the correction of his decisions.

The letter demanded that the party should be run as per its statute and an environment for holding the 14th general convention of the party in a free, fair and impartial manner should be created. 

 Senior leader Paudel, general secretary Dr Shashanka Koirala, Treasurer Sita Devi Yadav, former general secretary Prakash Man Singh, CWC members Dr Shekhar Koirala, Ram Sharan Mahat, Bala Bahadur KC, Mahesh Acharya, Dil Bahadur Gharti and Dr Minendra Rijal have signed the protest letter.

Likewise, leaders Sujata Koirala, Dilendra Prasad Badu, Deepak Giri, Joshi, Chandra Bhandari, Kamala Panta, Dhan Raj Gurung, Ratna Sherchan, Badri Prasad Pandey, Jiwan Pariyar, Gururaj Ghimire, Kalyan Kumar Gurung, Ram Krishan Yadav, Hirdaya Ram Thani, Kirana Yadav and Sarita Prasai have also signed the letter.

They said if party president Deuba did not heed their demand in the upcoming CWC meeting, they would announce a protest programme against him.

Meanwhile, party vice president Bimalendra Nidhi has reiterated that he would contest for the top post in the party, which has come as a blow to Deuba. News reports have it that Nidhia and Sitaual held a meeting and decided to go together in the upcoming general convention. If Nidhi files his candidacy as argued by them, Deuba is not likely to be reelected president of the old grand party. 

People’s Review Print Edition