The ongoing central committee meeting of the CPN-UML on Thursday discussed Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s departure from party leadership.
UML central committee member Rabin Koirala said that he had expected a higher-level address from Chairman KP Sharma Oli than Deuba’s, but did not see even the slightest realization regarding his mistakes.
Following the Gen Z movement, NC President Deuba has handed over responsibilities to Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka and indicated that he would no longer remain in party leadership.
Koirala, a leader from Jhapa, Oli’s home district, raised the issue of Deuba’s step to suggest that Oli, too, should step down from leadership.
Speaking on Thursday, Koirala said, “I had expected our chairman to address the meeting at a higher level than the president of our allied party, the Nepali Congress, but that did not happen. After such a major incident devastated the country, there should have been a sense of self-criticism in the report, but that did not happen.”
He demanded that although the date for the party’s general convention has been fixed, the chairman should now play only a guardian’s role, designating someone else as the coordinator.
Emphasizing that the party must participate in elections rather than avoid them, Koirala added, “As we head into the next elections, we must go with a clear agenda of constitutional amendment. The issues raised during the Gen Z movement – a corruption-free country, reforms in the governance system, and good governance – should be the key issues of constitutional amendment. We must go to the elections with a commitment to amend the Constitution accordingly through the next Parliament.”
He also noted that Chairman Oli had proposed strengthening party unity, suggesting that this should begin with the renewal of Bidya Bhandari’s party membership.
