KATHMANDU, Feb 26: The intra-party dispute in the main opposition Nepali Congress has surfaced after the two disgruntled factions of the party boycotted the party's Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Tuesday.
The disgruntled factions led by Ramchandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula shunned the CWC meeting expressing their dissatisfaction over the establishment faction's preparation to form the discipline and election committees on the basis of majority through voice vote. The factions also expressed dissatisfaction over the endorsement of the party statute on the basis of majority through voice vote on Sunday.
The meeting, which was called for 11 am today at the party headquarters in Sanepa, has been postponed until further notice. Senior leaders including Poudel and Sitaula did not enter the meeting hall though they spent whole day at the party office.
Main oppn embroiled in intra-party disputes
Today's meeting was expected to dwell on the formation of discipline and election committees. The disgruntled factions decided to boycott the meeting after the establishment faction attempted to set up committees on the basis of majority through voice vote, the party leaders said.
The Poudel and Sitaula factions have been demanding that the party's discipline and election committees should be formed on the basis of consensus. Several party committees including the aforementioned two have remained inactive for the past one year.
"Our demand is that the discipline and election committees should be formed on the basis of consensus. However, the establishment faction has remained non-committal on our demands so far. Hence, we did not attend the meeting today," Arjun Narsingh KC, a key leader of the Sitaula faction, told Republica Online on Tuesday afternoon.
The disgruntled factions have vented ire against NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba for his 'unilateral steps' in the party's decision-making including the recent endorsement of the party statute on the basis of majority through voice vote.
