KATHMANDU: Leaders who began their political careers through the Nepali Congress’ student wing, Nepal Students’ Union (NSU), have reached key positions in the party’s leadership.
Gagan Kumar Thapa, a former general secretary and vice president of the NSU, is set to lead the party as president, while other former NSU presidents are competing for key positions.
According to the Election Committee of the Nepali Congress’ 15th General Convention, former NSU president Bishwo Prakash Sharma has been elected unopposed as senior vice president.
Another former NSU president, Kishor Singh Rathore, had registered his candidacy for party president but later withdrew from the race in support of Gagan Kumar Thapa.
Former NSU presidents Dhanraj Gurung, Govinda Bhattarai and Ranjit Karna are contesting for the post of vice president. Gurung and Bhattarai are contesting under the open category, while Karna is contesting under the inclusive category. Karna had led the NSU for a long period and oversaw the organisation’s long-delayed General Convention before handing over the leadership.
Karna, who emerged from student politics, is a contemporary of party president Thapa.
Former NSU presidents Gururaj Ghimire and Pradeep Paudel, along with leader Nain Singh Mahar, have registered their candidacies for general secretary, while former NSU president Rajiv Dhungana is contesting for joint general secretary.
Ghimire and Paudel, who became general secretaries of the Nepali Congress through the special General Convention, are known as leaders with firm ideological positions and intellectual backgrounds.
With Thapa preparing to form a team of party office-bearers that includes leaders who have been involved in political struggles since their student days, former NSU leaders who have served in its leadership and office-bearing positions are expected to be elected as office-bearers and central members.
Although Thapa is understood to believe that the inclusion of experienced leaders who emerged from student politics will help in running the party, he has not made any formal statement on the matter.
Vice presidential candidate Ranjit Karna said that if the party brings together leaders who have worked for political movements and transformation since their student days, the Nepali Congress will be able to find the right direction and develop a new approach to running the party.
Karna said all leaders and cadres who advanced their political careers through the student wing and Nepal Tarun Dal could contribute to the transformation of the Nepali Congress.
“When voices began to be raised for democracy and the democratic republic and movements began, our generation was on the streets as students. The political activists who led those movements for change are now being elected to the party leadership, as office-bearers and as central members. We are moving forward with a determination to transform the Nepali Congress,” he said.
Former NSU president Rajiv Dhungana said the Nepali Congress could move forward with a new roadmap because there was coordination and a shared outlook between senior leaders who emerged from student politics and their contemporaries.
“Political movements are not easy. Leaders and cadres who entered the party’s mainstream through student politics have the capacity to run the party in an organised manner,” Dhungana said.
Many other leaders who advanced their political careers through the NSU and Nepal Tarun Dal are also contesting for positions ranging from office-bearers to central members.
Meanwhile, voting to elect the new leadership under the Nepali Congress’ 15th General Convention, which was scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed. The Election Committee has set 7 am Friday as the new voting time.
Voting had initially been scheduled for 10 am Thursday but was postponed three times and pushed back to 2:30 pm. However, voting could not begin even at the revised time, resulting in the postponement to Friday.
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