By Our Reporter
If all goes as planned, the Nepali Congress will elect its new president in the next eight months. The party recently revised its calendar of the convention and decided to hold the 14th convention of the central committee from February19-21 next year in Kathmandu.
However, if the cases of COVID-19 spike further, the convention could be put off again. The party had already extended the term of the sitting central committee by a year.
Although the party hosting its 14th general convention in eight months, it is still uncertain who will be the next president of the old grand party. Present president Sher Bahadur Deuba has been accused of weakening the party in his four years term as party president. But he will again contest for the post and probably be the toughest candidate for the rival candidate to defeat.
Dr. Shekhar Koirala, Ram Chandra Paudel, Dr. Sashank Koirala, Prakash Man Singh and Krishna Sitaula are other potential candidates of the top post in the party. Interestingly, while the Deuba-led faction will have only one candidate, the rival factions have several aspiring candidates. If the rival faction has a single candidate, mostly Dr. Shekhar Koirala, they will snatch the crown from Deuba. But when Shasanka is also willing to contest for the president, there are slim chances for Deuba to face defeat. Again there is Krishna Sitaula to create a favourable ground for Deuba, because it was Sitaula’s candidacy which had made it easier for Deuba to become the party boss in the 13th convention in 2016.
Popularity of Deuba has diminished especially after he forged an alliance with the Maoist-centre in 2016 and the party faced a humiliating defeat in 2017 polls. And if he gets Dr. Shekhar Koirala as his only rival candidate, he is sure to lose the race. But within the rival camp, it will be difficult to forge consensus to have a single candidate for the top post, especially when Singh, Sitaula and Paudel are also willing to contest the election.
However, going by the circumstances in the past four years, the leadership of NC is likely to return to Koirala family because of the poor performance of Deuba, the first-party president elected from beyond Koirala family since the formation of the party in 1949.
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