Disciplinary action against central leaders of ruling Nepali Congress (NC) are coming to the fore with the party’s lower committees starting to recommend candidates for the upcoming federal and provincial elections.
Disciplinary committee of Bara Congress had recommended Joint General Secretary Uma Kanta Chaudhary be expelled in a way that he is not even general member of the party accusing him of not helping the party in recent local election.
Similarly, disciplinary committee of Sarlahi had punished Amresh Kumar Singh, the current House of Representatives (HoR) member from Sarlahi-4, for betrayal in the local election.
Disciplinary action against the central leaders like the two were taken a few months back but the letters of action are being made public now after the grand old party invited application from aspiring candidates for the upcoming elections.
Chaudhary, who is the current water supply minister, and Singh have not been recommended for candidacy in the upcoming election owing to disciplinary action.
NC has disciplinary committees at the district, provincial and central levels. But the lower committees can only recommend disciplinary action which has to be taken by the five-strong disciplinary committee at the center.
The letters of disciplinary action have been copied even to the central disciplinary committee but the committee has not initiated process for action as NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba has yet to complete the disciplinary committee at the center.
The central committee meeting that ended on July 18 had recommended Ananda Prasad Dhungana as coordinator of the disciplinary committee but Deuba has yet to complete the committee.
Dhungana told Setopati that the committee has received around 50 letters about disciplinary action for betrayal in the local election. “The disciplinary committee currently has only me for investigation. Party president has yet to nominate members.”
The party statute requires president to complete all the committees including disciplinary committee within six months of the general convention but Deuba has yet to complete the committees nine months after the 14th general convention in December 2021.
NC had taken disciplinary action against Govinda Raj Joshi of Tanahu, Mahendra Malla of Banke, Pushkar Ojha of Kailali and Ram Bahadur Bista of Dadeldhura after the last parliamentary election in 2017.
The then central disciplinary committee led by Bhishma Raj Angdembe had expelled the leaders in a way that they do not remain even central members for five years.
Chaudhary, who now faces disciplinary action, was a member of the disciplinary committee then and had resigned as the committee prepared to take action against the leaders.
Joshi was accused of playing a role to defeat Ram Chandra Paudel in Tanahu-1, and Ojha to defeat Arzu Rana Deuba, wife of president Deuba, in Kailali-5.
The party’s district committees have been recommending to withdraw action against Joshi, Ojha and others at times but the issue has yet to become agenda for discussion in the party’s central committee meeting.
