The main opposition CPN-UML is gearing up for the 10th National Congress scheduled to be held at Chitwan from November 26-28.
The National Congress is basically focused on building party leadership, while the party ranks are busy making efforts to unanimously elect most office bearers and leadership.
However, electing leadership unanimously doesn’t seem easy for UML, as there are many aspirants for the 235-member Central Committee, including 15 office bearers.
The possibility of repetition of old faces in party leadership is very high. It is almost certain that the party chairman KP Sharma Oli will be re-elected from the 10th National Congress. Talking to The Rising Nepal, party Standing Committee member Subash Chandra Nembang said it is fixed that party chairman KP Sharma Oli would be re-elected as chairman from the National Congress.
“After the party’s National Congress, we have to get ready to reach out to the people for the upcoming elections. But since our party is under coordinated attack from all sides, there is no alternative to Oil for fighting against such obstacles,” said Nembang. “It is certain that he will be re-elected as the party chairman and lead the UML ahead successfully by facing all the underlying challenges,” he added. Oli would be party’s candidate for the Prime Minister in the upcoming elections, he assured.
Stating that the discussion is underway to unanimously select the remaining officer bearers, Nembang said within a few days the party would finalise the names of the office bearers.
“The efforts are being made to unanimously elect most of the office bearers, which is the best practice. However, the election will be held for a few posts if efforts to elect office bearers and party leadership through consensus failed,” he said.
However, UML vice chairman Bhim Rawal and deputy general secretary Ghanshyam Bhusal are likely to compete with Oli for the post if the party fails to maintain their positions.
Similarly, party general secretary Ishwar Pokharel’s name is ahead in the post for senior vice-chairman, since he couldn’t legally run for the post of general secretary for the second term. However, the situation is not quite favourable for Pokharel, as the current vice-chairpersons Bhim Rawal, Ashta Laxmi Shakya and Subash Nembang too have staked their claims to the post.
In the same manner, there are many aspirants for the post of general secretary, which is considered to be a powerful post. Party chairman Oli will certainly forward the names of his confidants for the post of secretary general.
Chairman Oli is likely to forward the names of Bishnu Poudel and Shankar Pokharel, while Subash Nembang and Surendra Pandey are also the aspirants for the post.
The party has also the task of managing old party leaders, including Yuvaraj Gyawali, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Astha Laxmi Shakya and Bhim Acharya and popular leaders Yogesh Bhattarai and Gokarna Bista.
On top of that, the party also has a duty to give proper responsibilities to several leaders belonging to the erstwhile Maoist Centre, including Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, who have chosen to be a part of the Oli-led UML.
Prithivi Subba Gurung, party secretary, said that the party had been making maximum efforts to unanimously elect the party leadership and office bearers because they wanted to revive the party and also unite the party both emotionally and psychologically.
“Today’s UML is made up of the leaders and cadres who were once divided into different groups, including those who always backed the founding faction and those who once supported the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction but chose to remain in their mother party during the split.”
“Similarly, the third one is the leaders belonging to the erstwhile CPN (Maoist Centre) who had chosen to be part of UML after the split of NCP and fourth one are those who joined UML leaving other parties,” he added.
“So, from the National Congress, we wanted to unite all our party leaders and cadres emotionally and psychologically. For this we have to manage leaders from all these groups. For this, the party leaders have been suggesting party chairman Oil to increase the number of office bearers from 15 to 19,” Subba claimed.
Source : TRN,
