Two top leaders of the Nepali Congress have singled out their confidants from their respective groups while sending them as ministers to the government.
President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala picked their confidants while recommending them as ministers to the government.
Deuba has 'bypassed' other influential leaders of the establishment group while Koirala did not consult the other leaders of his group. While sending ministers to the government in all the stages, both leaders sent only their close confidants.
The leaders from the establishment Bimalendra Nidhi, Prakash Man Singh, Dr. Shashanka Koirala, and Krishna Prasad Sitaula have been denied their slice of cake while other group in the non-establishment has neglected General Secretary Gagan Thapa.
While five people from the establishment side participated in the government, none of the leaders who led the subgroups within both factions got their share. From the founding group, Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka, Spokesperson Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, NP Saud, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Ramesh Rijal, and Sita Gurung have become ministers. All of them are close to President Deuba.
Former Vice President Nidhi and former General Secretary Singh, who were leading the sub-groups in the establishment, were themselves, ministerial aspirants. They were willing to participate in the government by leading the party as Deputy Prime Ministers. However, at the eleventh hour, Deuba picked his confidant Vice President Khadka to participate in the government as deputy prime minister and defense minister.
Former General Secretary Dr. Shashanka Koirala, who is leading another subgroup, tried to make one of his close MPs Deepak Giri and Deepak Khadka as ministers. However, he did not participate in the cabinet.
Another former General Secretary Sitaula, insisted on making Pradeep Paudel, an elected MP from Kathmandu-5, a minister.
He proposed to make Paudel a minister saying that if Paudel is appointed as a minister, the message of the party's giving opportunities to the youth will be disseminated.
However, Deuba was not positive to make Paudel, who had been a candidate for the General Secretary in the 14th General Convention from his own group, a minister.
Paudel stood in favor of General Secretary Gagan Thapa in the parliamentary party election held on December 21, 2022. After Paudel left the group and stood in favor of other groups, President Deuba did not want to make him a minister.
Leader Koirala, who has been leading other groups in the establishment, appointed his close confidants to the two ministries without consulting General Secretary Thapa. He sent Vice President Dhanraj Gurung and MP Dig Bahadur Limbu from Morang to the Council of Ministers.
Koirala flew to Singapore after handing over the names of Gurung and Limbu to President Deuba on May 2. The next day, Deuba submitted the names of the two MPs given by Koirala to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' for appointment as ministers. They were sworn-in by President Ram Chandra Paudel on May 4.
During the expansion of the cabinet held on March 31, President Deuba sent only four ministers from his group. He entrusted the Ministry of Defense along with the Deputy Prime Minister to Vice President Khadka, the Ministry of Finance to Spokesperson Mahat to, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply to to Rijal, the Ministry of Urban Development to Sita Gurung.
From other constituencies, President Dhanraj and Morang MP Limbu were on the list to become ministers. Deuba and Koirala had agreed to appoint Dhanraj and Limbu as ministers.
However, after General Secretary Thapa raised the issue of the respectable participation of the group in the Council of Ministers, the oath of both was postponed.
General Secretary Thapa was adamant that one of the two MPs, Badri Pandey and Jeevan Pariyar and MP Pradeep Paudel, who helped him in the parliamentary elections, should be made a minister. Another General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma also supported his efforts. Sharma was also openly in favor of Thapa since the election of the parliamentary party.
However, leader Koirala, who leads the group in the non-establishment, has recently 'bypassed' General Secretary Thapa and made his close confidants Gurung and Limbu ministers.
Congress MP Surendra Raj Acharya took over the Ministry of Women and Children on May 7. President Deuba recommended him to Prime Minister Prachanda for a minister under President Paudel's quota.
Out of the nine ministries allocated for the Congress, President Deuba appointed six people from the establishment, two people from the Koirala faction, and one person from the President Paudel, but none of them were chosen from Minister Secretary Thapa.
General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma are dissatisfied after President Deuba and leader Koirala singled out their henchmen when they recommended ministers.
They have publicly expressed displeasure after not only President Deuba, but also the leader of his own group, Koirala, did not discuss and consult on the issue while making ministers.
"Sometimes I didn't understand the process, sometimes I didn't like the policy, nor did I like the decisions, I felt like resisting many times, but every time I thought, I am taking the responsibility, everything has a limit," Thapa wrote on a social networking site on May 7.
