Nepali Congress (NC) Vice-president Bimalendra Nidhi has held lunch meeting with General secretary Shashank Koirala and former general secretary Prakash Man Singh.
Nidhi, who told NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba about his desire to contest for the top post on Saturday, invited Koirala and Singh at his home for lunch on Monday. Nidhi, who has been a Deuba lieutenant for decades, claims that Deuba had promised to help Nidhi get the top post in the next general convention when he helped Deuba win the election in the last general convention.
Nidhi has held discussion with the two leaders from the opposition camp after Deuba insisted to seek reelection and is holding discussion with central leaders of his faction from all seven provinces.
Nidhi, Koirala and Singh are adoringly called princes by the cadres as they are scions of the three famous NC families. Shashank is son of BP Koirala, while Prakash Man and Bimalendra are sons of Ganesh Man Singh and Mahendra Narayan Nidhi respectively.
Some in the party have been claiming that existing factions will be broken and leaders will realign in a new manner for the next general convention. The meeting of three princes hints that such realignment may indeed be happening.
The three leaders talked for around two hours discussing the pandemic and the floods and landslides in Sindhupalchowk district but the meeting was mainly focused on the general convention, according to a party source. "They talked about holding frequent meetings for regular dialogue, and to move forward in coordination," the source added.
The leaders also agreed to make Deuba the next prime minister (PM) pointing that the opposition alliance has proposed to form the next government under him. "The three leaders have agreed to form common position on all the issues including general convention," the source claimed. "They have also talked about holding discussion with Deuba, Senior Leader Ram Chandra Paudel and former general secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula about the issue."
