NATIONAL 2 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Fight For Supremacy

Worker-friendly PM Koirala leads the race as Congress leaders intensify their campaign ahead of party convention

By KESHAB POUDEL

What do you make out of these three telephone numbers 414-607, 534-398 and 254-545? Only Congress workers can tell it. These are the phone numbers of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba respectively .

Deuba (middle), Bhattarai (left) and Koirala : Who will prevail ?

Apart from these common telephone numbers, they also have hot-line numbers available exclusively to a handful of party workers.

Hundreds of party workers from different parts of the country try to talk to their leaders through these telephones every day but only a few lucky ones get the connection to the leaders. Despite his business, Prime Minister Koirala is more accessible to the party workers than others two.

As the struggle for the party's leadership intensifies, Koirala, Bhattarai and Deuba are trying to win larger number of workers to their side.

Bhattarai has already started public relation campaign by meeting intellectuals and bigwigs whereas Deuba is busy addressing public meetings. Deuba is leading the anti-Koirala and pro-Bhattarai group.

Confined to Kathmandu valley, Bhattarai-Deuba duo have not visited any other part of the country within the last six months. Even during the time when Bhattarai was Prime Minister, no party workers dared to call him since most of them had bitter experiences talking to Bhattarai and Deuba.

"Bhattarai starts with humors and ends with abusive words while talking with party workers. It is very difficult to listen to him as he does not have any control over his words," said a Congress party worker on condition of anonymity.

On the contrary, Prime Minister Koirala is very worker-friendly. He fares better among his rivals by responding to the complaints of party workers. The congress workers find meeting with Koirala relatively easier than meeting with Bhattarai-Deuba duo.

Even in telephone, workers have easy access with Koirala as his personal assistants transfer the phone. Congress workers find comfortable talking with Koirala.

Although former Prime Ministers Bhattarai and Deuba are launching joint attack against him, they are yet to crack Koirala's power base.

CONGRESS POLITICS : Fight For Leadership

"Merely meeting with some people in New Baneshwor and Bhainsepati can not clip Koirala's power. How many times Bhattarai and Deuba have visited remote parts of the country in the last three years?" asked one of very close former advisor of Bhattarai. "Even if Bhattarai and Deuba unite, Prime Minister Koirala will have the party reins in his hand."

As Nepali Congress is passing through transition in leadership, one cannot get to the party's top without the support of Prime Minister Koirala.

At present the likely participants in the race for party chief in the forthcoming convention slated early next year include former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, former Deputy Prime Minister Shailaja Acharya and General Secretary Sushil Koirala. But none of them can dream of getting to the top without the backing from Prime Minister Koirala.

If the Prime Minister Koirala formally announces his own candidature, which most of the political analysts believe he will do, all the other so called second generation leaders will become light weight contestants. As a strong man popular in the rank and file of party, it is not easy to defeat Prime Minister Koirala.

"I want to establish democratic values within the party," said Prime Minister Koirala. "Democratic exercise must prevail in choosing the leadership."

One of the strengths of Koirala is that his door is always open to the party workers. His behavior makes him popular among the rank and file. Even at the age of 76, Koirala works for more than 15 hours a day.

This is one of the basic characters that distinguishes Congress strong man Koirala from his colleagues-cum-rivals Bhattarai and Deuba.

Former Prime Minister Deuba, too, is popular among the party workers. In second generation leadership, he is still the most popular because of easy access and behavior. Once regarded as the heir to the Congress throne, his tough anti-Koirala and pro-Bhattarai posture could prove to be the set back to fulfilling his ambition. Deuba is now more confined to Kathmandu valley like Bhattarai and is fast losing the support of Koirala.

"Frankly speaking, Koirala family has many members who are leading the Congress party better than Bhattarai and Deuba. Even the General Secretary Sushil Koirala enjoys strong base in the party," said a former close advisor of Bhattarai who is now leading a political party. "One of the weaknesses of Bhattarai and Deuba duo are that they are just confined to Kathmandu."

To the contrast, Koirala has been traveling throughout the country. Last year alone, Koirala traveled different parts of the country to meet his party workers.

Even during the last general elections, Koirala addressed the election campaign in 158 constituencies in different parts of the country whereas Bhattarai concentrated his campaign only to Kathmandu, Bara and Parsa. Koirala even found time to visit the constituencies of his rivals like Bhattarai, Chiranjibi Wagle, Khum Bahadur Khadka and many others. Koirala is also known as a person whose ears are available to party workers.

Koirala surrounded by workers : Enjoys grass root support

In the last few months, Deuba and Bhattarai have made every effort to win the heart of party workers but they are still not able to garner enough support.

"Sher Bahadur Deuba has every quality to become a leader in the Congress. He is young, hard working and is a man with vision," said Kishore Nepal, a close associate of Deuba. "He will replace the present set of Congress leadership."

Despite the pulls and pressures from his rivals, Koirala is standing firmly. "There is no match to Prime Minister Girijababu as he is hard working and worker-friendly," said Sunil Kumar Bhandari, member of Nepali Congress Central Working Committee. "Girijababu still works for more than 15 hours a day and listens to every complaints and grievances of the party workers."

As the convention of Nepali Congress comes closer, the battle in the party is gaining momentum by the day. The political leaders are planning to visit different parts of the country to woo the workers.

Koirala has already announced that he would visit Maoist-affected areas after Dashain. With the backing of all Bhattarai loyalists, Deuba is considering to embark on a nation wide tour after Dashain.

At a time when the Prime Minister's authority alone has been proved not enough to maintain discipline in the party, all are preparing for a battle to control the reins of the party.