KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has said he believes the party can be brought back together under the leadership of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Speaking at the opening session of a national gathering organised by the party’s non-establishment faction in Kathmandu on Friday, Lekhak stressed that the Nepali Congress must overcome its internal divisions in order to address the country’s major challenges.
He said the party is currently facing both organisational and psychological divisions and expressed hope that Deuba’s return to Nepal would help create an atmosphere conducive to unity. Lekhak urged party members to work toward reunifying the Congress under Deuba’s leadership.
He also blamed the special convention for deepening divisions within the party. According to him, the Congress should acknowledge its mistakes, reunite under Deuba, and move forward by reconciling the special and regular working committees.
Lekhak argued that many of the party’s present difficulties originated from the special convention. He said the process weakened the organisation and made it difficult to proceed toward a regular convention, adding that there had been shortcomings in efforts to prevent the special convention from taking place.
He further maintained that the convention was imposed at a time when Deuba was not legally eligible to contest the party presidency. According to Lekhak, even if the issue had been leadership transition, Deuba had already made it clear that he would not compete politically.
Lekhak said the real problem emerged when a new leadership was expected to evolve naturally through the party’s 15th general convention, but that process was disrupted.
