KATHMANDU, June 16: In yet another blow to the establishment faction of Nepali Congress (NC), a panel led by Pushkar Acharya, who is close to the rival faction in the party, has been elected as the new leader of Trade Union Congress, a sister organisation of the party.
The panel led by Acharya defeated his rival panel led by Khila Nath Dahal, who is close to President Sher Bahadur Deuba, with a wide margin on Saturday. Acharya had received support from Ram Chandra Paudel, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Arjun Narasingh KC, among others, while Dahal had support from President Deuba and his allies in the general convention.
Although Deuba faction had made this election a matter of prestige and devoted its whole energy to elect its panel, it had to face humiliating defeat at the end. While Acharya received a total 818 votes, his rival Dahal received just 533 votes.
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Of the total 1,420 voters, only 1398 voters cast their votes.
According to the Election Committee, Mahendra Prasad Yadav has been elected as senior vice president of the body. Those elected as vice presidents include Tejendra Kumar Karki and Abhaya Kumar Rai (open), Indira Sapkota (women), Netra Bikram Thapa (service sector), Lalit Shrestha (manufacturing) and Asha Singh Rathaur (informal sector).
Similarly, Yogendra Kumar Kunwar has been elected as general secretary of the Trade Union Congress. Those elected as deputy general secretaries include Ganesh Bahadur KC and Jyoti Koirala (open), Radhika Kuikel (women), Sita Ram Awasthi (service sector), Rajesh Palikeh (informal sector) and Ishwar Bahadur Pariyar (manufacturing).
Likewise, Mohan Kumar Basnet and Sushila Karki have been elected as treasurer and deputy treasurer, respectively.
All but one elected office bearers of the trade union belong to the rival faction as Deuba faction could secure only one out of the total 27 posts.
The defeat in the Trade Union Congress marks yet another humiliation of Deuba faction in the recently held general conventions of various sister organizations of the party. Prior to this, Deuba faction had faced defeats in the general convention of three other sister organizations including Nepal Teachers Union, Nepal Engineers Association and the Civil Servants Association.
