By Our Reporter
To suppress the voices of the dissident leaders within the party, Nepali Congress President Deuba has deferred the date of the Mahasamiti meeting for the third time.
The important meeting will now be held on February 19-22, 2024 in Lalitpur. Earlier, it was to be held from January 1 to 4.
As per the party statute, the Mahasaminti meeting should convene every year, but the Nepali Congress, citing various reasons, has been deferring it ever since the 14th general convention was held in December 2021.
Deuba, who is often criticised within the party and by the public for adding anomalies in the parliamentary system in the late 1990s, which ultimately led to the collapse of the 1990 constitution, has also been running the party without abiding by its statute. He always runs for power and resorts to any measure to reach or stick in power, it is evident from what he has done since 1996, and he has not given up his old habits. Now that he has paved the way to becoming PM for the sixth time, he cannot go against the present government and breach the coalition. As such, when the dissident leaders and some leaders within his faction were not happy with the way the government is functioning, and they are likely to express their dissatisfaction in the Mahasamiti meeting, Deuba deferred it to avoid the situation.
On Friday, he called a meeting of the Central Work Execution Committee and decided to defer the meeting citing cold and the National Assembly election scheduled for January 25 next year despite reservations from the party’s dissident camp led by Shekhar Koirala and general secretary Gagan Thapa.
Earlier, the meeting of the Mahasamiti, the party’s highest policy-making body, was first scheduled for November 29 to December 2. But the meeting was deferred for December 15-18 citing the November 3 earthquake.
Again the meeting was rescheduled for January 1–4 at Godavari in Lalitpur.
Although the leaders close to Deuba have argued that the meeting was deferred because of the National Assembly election, the main reason is to suppress the voices of party representatives who are against the coalition.
When powerful and popular leaders are against Deuba, the latter might not bear the pressure if the Mahasamiti meeting is held. Moreover, Bal Krishna Khand, who was released on bail has reportedly threatened to reveal the truth behind his arrest and imprisonment on the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, and he is likely to choose Mahasmiti forum to disclose it. It was reported that Khand was arrested under the design of Deuba and his spouse Arzoo Rana. This also forced Deuba to postpone the meeting of Mahasamiti meeting.
Two days before the NC postponed the Mahasamiti meeting, a separate gathering of the dissident Koirala-Thapa faction had concluded that they would not accept the decision to defer the Mahasamiti meeting. But a warning from senior leader Koirala, general secretaries duo Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma had little effect as Deuba camp prevailed in the meeting of Friday.
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