KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has expressed confidence that the party can be reunited under the leadership of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Addressing the inaugural session of a national gathering organised by the party’s non-establishment faction in Kathmandu on Friday, Lekhak said the Nepali Congress must unite to address the country’s pressing challenges.
“The Nepali Congress is in a situation where it needs to unite to address national issues. At present, the party appears divided both mentally and organisationally,” he said. “I hope Deuba’s return to the country will create an environment for party unity. I therefore urge that the party be reunified under Deuba’s leadership.”
Lekhak also said that the special convention had pushed the party into a state of division. “We should unite under Deuba’s leadership and correct our mistakes. We need to move forward by integrating the special and regular working committees,” he said.
According to him, the party’s current problems stem from the special convention. “If the special convention weakened the party, then even efforts to move toward a regular convention became difficult. There was some weakness and some failure in not being able to prevent the special convention,” he said.
Lekhak argued that the special convention was imposed at a time when Deuba was not in a legal position to contest for the party presidency. “Even if the issue was leadership change or transition, Sher Bahadur Deuba was not legally eligible to compete for the presidency. He had already declared that he would not be a political contender,” he said.
He added that difficulties arose when a new leadership was expected to emerge naturally and regularly through the 15th general convention.
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