Says candidacy against nepotism

Post Report

JANAKPUR, Nov 8 – A day after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala declared his candidacy for the president of Nepali Congress (NC), Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announced that he would contest for the coveted post.

Koirala, who has been holding the post of the president since 1996, made the announcement on Tuesday saying he still had to complete some of the pledges he had made and for the sake of the party.

“Girijababu is old now and he can’t continue to run the government. I had asked him to turn over the responsibility to me but he refused…now I am declaring my candidacy for the party president,” Deuba said.

He said his candidacy was to protest nepotism and the anomalies in the party and this way the party can not resolve issues like Maoist, poverty or illiteracy.

Deuba, a former prime minister and a favourite among the second generation leaders in the party, has the backing of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai who has remained Koirala’s arch rival in the party. Bhattarai was ousted from power earlier this year by Koirala supporters.

In August, supporters of Bhattarai and Deuba retaliated by rebelling against Koirala. Koirala was forced to bow down and agree to four of the five demands made by the NC rebels.

Now the rebels are accusing Koirala of going back on his words and refusing to renew party membership of the people in the rebel camp.

Addressing the same gathering here, former Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka said that the leadership should be handed down to the younger generation and the Maoist issue need to resolved before it turns into a civil war.