Old vs young generation
The Himalayan Times
17 December 2021
Old vs young generation
Nepal has seen national conventions of the major political parties in the past few days. These political parties are supposed to hold their conventions in every four or five years to choose their new leaderships as per their constitution and party charter. All these parties are required to register with the Election Commission upon fulfillment of the procedures as established by law. If they fail to hold their conventions within the stipulated time, their registrations and recognition as the political parties will remain invalid.
In accordance with its constitution, the CPN-UML, one of the major political parties, held its 10th national convention on November 26 to 28 in Chitawan with much publicity. As expected, K.P.Oli won the CPM-UML leadership by a huge margin against his opponent Bhim Rawal “UML National General Convention: KP Oli wins against Bhim Rawal by sweeping majority” (THT, Online November 30). It was encouraging to see Rawal, as the second-rung leader, challenging his boss for the leadership. Likewise, the Rastriya Prajantantra Party (RPP) held its party unification convention from December 1st to 3rd in Kathmandu. Rejendara Lingden gave a surprise victory over his long time boss Kamal Thapa “Lingden elected new RPP chairperson” (THT, December 6, Page 1), ending his years-long party chairmanship.
Similarly, the Nepali Congress (NC) organized its 14th national convention from 12th to 14th December in Kathmandu. Deuba came out victorious defeating Dr. Shekhar Koirala in the second round of voting when nobody was able to secure more than 50% votes during the first round of voting ”Delegate-votes give Deuba a second term as NC president” (THT, online, December 15, Page 1), Political analyst opined that the other two rivalry candidates, Prakash Man Sing and Bimalendra Nidhi’s eleventh hour support to Deuba could have been influenced by the European Union. With the national conventions over, it is yet to be seen how the UML and NC will move ahead concerning the RPP’s agenda. Time will tell whether Rajendra Lingden will be able to materialize his party’s agenda of reinstatement of Constitutional Monarch and Hindu Kingdom.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj
Page 4/8 Article no. 45/75
