E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 01 -

The frozen relations between Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala and senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba seems to be thawing with the establishment faction showing signs of willingness to address the latter’s grievances.

Interlocutors engaged in efforts to bring the two sides to a meeting point have said there are “positive signs” from both the sides.

“Some of us have held a few rounds of discussions with both the sides. The party president seems to be serious this time around. He has called a crucial meeting of office bearers and senior leaders at his residence early on Thursday, an indication that things are improving,” said an NC leader who wished not to be named. “The meeting is expected to come up with a solution.”

On Tuesday, NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Situala met Deuba to discuss a way out of the factional differences, including the row over dissolution of the party’s sister wings. Leaders close to Koirala said he is ready to take Deuba into confidence before taking any decision on the formation of interim committees of the dissolved sister wings and appointments in vacant departments and other internal bodies.

“Things will be resolved if the party president can appoint a proportional number of our leaders in over two dozen vacant departments, the Parliamentary Board and the Central Work Execution Committee,” said a Deuba confidante. “We won’t object if the party president appoints a majority of the members from his camp. What we need is a proportional representation as agreed in the past.”

Both Koirala and Deuba had met and talked for the first time in the last one-and-a-half months during a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday.

Deuba supporters, however, wanted to remain skeptical over the ongoing negotiations. “Though efforts are on, we have not reached an agreement yet. We have not received any concrete proposal from the party president,” said NC leader Prakash Sharan Mahat. “The party president has been saying all along that he is serious, but we are yet to see that in reality.”

The widening rift has been a matter of serious concern for most of the NC leaders as the party has not been able to hold regular meetings and hold open discussions on several pending issues since the party’s general conventions in September 2010. Deuba, who resigned following differences over the ‘unilateral’ dissolution of the sister wings, and his backers have been boycotting the party’s central working committee meetings for the past couple of weeks.

“I’m worried because the differences are serious and bringing both the sides to a meeting point is a challenging task,” said Minendra Rijal, another leader who has been trying hard to bring both the sides to an agreement.

Posted on: 2011-12-01 08:21

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