NC mulling over whether to stay in the government or not

As it has become almost certain now that Nepali Congress would not lead the new government to be formed soon after the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly, the party's central leaders have said that instead of the party remaining in the government, it would from now on give more preference to help draft a "democratic constitution" and take the ongoing peace process into its "logical conclusion".

Organising a press conference in the eastern industrial city of Biratnagar Tuesday morning, the NC leaders said the party would decide whether to stay in the government or not after the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the party.

Senior party leader Mahesh Acharya who suffered an embarrassing loss from Morang constituency-6 said that only after the seven party holds an internal assessment and analysis regarding the election and its outcome, a new government would be formed.

Angered by the party's humiliating performance in the election, Acharya said that action would be taken against those party cadres found to be helping others during the election.

NC leader Amod Upadhyaya, who emerged victorious in Morang-1, said that since the main mandate of the election is to draft a new constitution, it is futile to engage in the petty discussion of which party won how many seats.

Similarly, Dr Shekhar Koirala, another NC bigwig who was trounced by Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) candidate Bijay Kumar Gachhadhar in Morang-7, said that the party suffered a humiliating defeat in Morang as the "people voted mainly on the basis of ethnicity".

Both victorious and losing First-past-the-post (FPTP) candidate of the party as well as those under the Proportional Representation electoral system were present at the press conference.

Though its traditional stronghold, NC emerged victorious in only one of the nine constituencies up for grabs in Morang. The rest were shared by CPN-Maoist and MJF. nepalnews.com ag Apr 15 08