After RSP’s Balen and UML’s Oli, Congress to name Thapa PM candidate

Kathmandu. The Nepali Congress is set to declare party president Gagan Thapa as its prime ministerial candidate.

A meeting of the party’s Central Working Committee has been scheduled at the party headquarters in Sanepa for Friday. According to party spokesperson Devaraj Chalise, the meeting will take a decision to announce Thapa, 49, as the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

Nepal is holding parliamentary elections on March 5. Nominations were filed on Friday, and Thapa is contesting from Sarlahi-4.

Traditionally, Nepal’s political parties do not fight elections by projecting a specific leader as the future Prime Minister.

Congress’s decision to declare Thapa as its prime ministerial face follows the Rastriya Swatantra Party’s decision a few weeks ago to project Balendra Shah — who recently resigned as Kathmandu mayor — as its prime ministerial candidate. The CPN-UML has declared its party chairman, KP Sharma Oli, as its prime ministerial candidate.

Earlier, in 1999 as well, the Congress had fought elections by projecting Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as prime minister. Bhattarai did become Prime Minister, but his tenure did not last long and his government fell due to infighting within the party.

Thapa rose to the party leadership through a special convention held in January following a prolonged standoff with the old guard. The convention ousted Sher Bahadur Deuba and elected Thapa as the Congress’s new president.
Once Thapa is announced as the Congress’s prime ministerial candidate, there will be three well-known faces “declared” in the race to lead the country. Nevertheless, despite no official announcement, Pushpa Kamal Dahal — a former Maoist Centre leader who now serves as coordinator of the Nepal Communist Party — is most likely to be the claimant to the post if his party bloc gets a chance to form the government.

Kulman Ghising, who quit as energy minister from the Sushila Karki-led interim government to contest the elections, has formed his own party, Ujyalo Nepal, and he too aspires to become Prime Minister.

Similarly, Harka Sampang, who stepped down as Dharan mayor and is contesting from Sunsari-1 under his Shram Shakti Party, has also announced himself as a prime ministerial candidate.

Since parties in Nepal usually do not contest elections by projecting a specific leader as the future Prime Minister, some have likened this emerging trend to what political philosophy describes as the presidentialisation of a parliamentary system.