Intra-party democracy

The Himalayan Times

7 February 2014

Intra-party democracy

Kudos to Comrade K.P.Oli for getting elected as the Parliamentary Party (PP) leader by defeating his Chairman Jhalanath Khanal as reported in “Oli turns the table on party chair, big-time” (THT, 5 Feb 2014). He has been able to make a record of breaking longstanding tradition in the largest communist party of Nepal of selecting the party chairman as the PP leader. This practice of intra-party democratic process should be highly applauded and continue in the days to come with the intention of giving the opportunity to other leaders to exercise their potential and making the party more vibrant.

Likewise, NC had recently applied the similar democratic process to elect their PP leader. It could have been much better for NC to elect PP leader other than the President letting him to manage and lead the party. Such practices would definitely help the political parties to be more democratic and pragmatic by providing opportunities to their cadres to use their political conscience.  It also should help to settle down the intra-party political feud that could be hampering in the quality performance of the whole party. This practice should also be taken as an opportunity for cementing the political differences among the leaders rather than making the basis for splits in the parties.

Now, all the three big parties have completed nomination of their PP leaders. Time has now come for them to concentrate on the formation of an effective and stable government to end the transitional phase at the soonest possible and draft a new constitution within one year as promised by them during the recently concluded CA election.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharjgunj, Kathmandu