NATIONAL 1 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Unity At Last

The ruling Nepal Congress party's 10th convention winds up announcing new strategies to meet new challenges. Will it implement them?

By KESHAB POUDEL in Pokhara

As soon as election results were announced on Tuesday at Dipendra Sabha Griha by party election commissioner and senior advocate Mukunda Regmi, the five-day-long 10th general convention of the Nepali Congress finally winded up. In its five-decade history, the party has for the first time chosen more than 50 percent of its members though hte ballot. This was one of the major achievements of the 1,400-plus elected delegates of the partyís grass root leaders.

Bhattarai (left) and Koirala (right) : Bridging the gap

Though the party delegates spared very little time to discuss political and other issues, it brought some clear messages on economic liberalization, unemployment, agricultural policy, law and order and Maoist problems.

The Congress convention was postponed twice in the past for nearly 18 months. It was held even in an uncertain situation. Despite elections for the party organization, the feud between the two group is yet to die as the defeated candidate Sher Bahadur Deuba declared that he would announce his next course of action soon after Koiralaís new steps. The rivalry in a democratic party like Congress is nothing new as it was formed by merging two folds in 1948.

Although Congress is a mass-based party with loose organization structure, it has set some new trends in its last elections. By electing the new leadership and giving new message to its party workers, the Congress party has succeeded in enthusing some kind of hope in public. It remains to be seen how successfully it can execute its commitments.

Following the inaugural session at the Pokhara Stadium , the Congress convention concluded by electing 19 representatives for the party central committee including party president. Congress has a reputation of countryís biggest party with unorganized programs.

As almost all leaders of the ruling party called to curb the corruption, no one spared a chance to misuse the government vehicles and guest houses in Pokhara. The presence of large number of senior government officials and their relatives reflected typical Nepali mentality of reaping benefits from being close to the power.

During the five-day hectic activities, Nepali Congress delegates discussed some very important issues including economic policies, Maoist problems and law and order situation. After endorsement of the amendment of the party constitution, the attention of the congress workers and delegates diverted to the election process, but they also spared some time to debate on the burring issues.

The convention was inaugurated in the presence of more than 60,000 Congress supporters and attendance of representatives of two political parties from northern and southern neighbors.

Although it was unorganized party, Congress proves that it has still its goodwill to sell to the people. The crowd turned out to see the Congress convention was beyond the calculation of the party, as they had fixed just three loud speakers in the stadium. Whoever spoke from the dias, the crowed silently endorsed their statements.