Deuba Koirala battle continues

January 7, 2001
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Kathmandu, 7 January: In a bid to woo dissidents and narrow differences with detractors within

his own party, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala hosted a tea party for the lawmakers of the ruling party at his Baluwatar official residence today. In the tea party, Premiere Koirala called upon all lawmakers to adopt the approach of “forget and forgive” for the unity in the party and consolidation of democracy in the country. He said the chapter of no confidence motion has been closed and all party members need to concentrate their efforts to make the forthcoming national convention of the party a grand success and further strengthen the party by making an unprecedented unity in the Nepali Congress.

Koirala’s move came following the boycott of the open voting in the no confidence motion against him by 41 members of parliament led by Sher Bahadur Deuba. Benup Raj Prasai, secretary of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party, conducted open voting in the no confidence motion registered by 56 lawmakers of the Nepali Congress against the Prime Minister even while the Deuba camp demanded secret ballot. 69 of 113 Nepali Congress parliamentarians voted against the no confidence motion saying they had faith in Koirala’s leadership.

Deuba rejected the result of the voting on no confidence motion against Koirala and said that their motion was still alive. They have announced to continue campaign to dislodge Koirala from party as well as government leadership. For his part, the rebel leader organised a dinner today for the lawmakers who supported him in the recent bid to oust the prime minisiter.

Koirala meanwhile has shown a conciliatory tone following the decision of the no confidence motion, which his detractors have taken as their moral victory. But an aide to Deuba said that despite Koirala’s accommodative tone, the Deuba camp would not abandon their campaign against Koirala, “come may what”.