Second, much has been said and written about how the NC is taking a leap toward becoming more inclusive and representative, hence it is but natural to be curious to see how these would reflect in the party’s top structures such as its central committee.
Indeed, the race for the NC’s party president means quite a lot to the country. Whoever among the three contenders – Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Bhim Bahadur Tamang – gets elected to the top post will have to fill in the shoes of the late Girija Prasad Koirala (GPK) and that is no mean task. GPK, by virtue of the time he had devoted to politics and his age, was revered across party lines and for any one of the three senior NC leaders in the race, it will be quite a task to move ahead by satisfying the demands and interests of all the different factions of the party and negotiating with other political forces such as the revolutionary UCPN (Maoist).
But this is also an opportunity for the party to show the world that it has second-generation leaders who are capable of taking on the challenges that come with the post.
For the party itself, the Convention is equally important. The elected leaders, particularly the party president, will have to continue carrying forward the party’s democratic legacy while, at the same time, keeping at bay all the ills such as nepotism and cronyism that late GPK is often charged of cultivating. Moreover, during the Convention, it is also expected that NC will hold wide discussions on the party’s plans and policies such as whether or not to doggedly stick to its original philosophy of socialism, something that many critics say is leading to its dwindling base. What the party decides would be interesting to watch.
This is also the first Convention since the unification of Deuba’s NC (Democratic) with the mother party and the kind of equation it throws up will also be keenly observed. We hope that what happens at the Convention in the next three to four days would set the highest example of free, fair and democratic elections and that the party would get leaders who can truly guide the country during such a crucial time in its history. May the best candidates win!
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