Kathmandu, October 9
Nepali Congress presidential candidate Gagan Thapa has pledged to bring together party leaders who stayed out of the ongoing General Convention process as well as those who lose the leadership election.
Speaking to journalists at the convention’s polling venue, Thapa said he would work to address discontent within the party and ensure that leaders and cadres from all sides have a place in the organisation.
Referring to the Deuba faction, which did not participate in the convention process, Thapa said the party would try to bring back those who had stayed away.
“Some of our colleagues and leaders are currently outside the process because they chose not to participate. We will try to bring them in. If someone chooses to form a new party, that is their choice. But if their dissatisfaction is with the Congress, we will try to address it,” he said.
Thapa also said those who contest the ongoing election but fail to win would be included in the party’s future plans. He stressed that every member of the Congress was important and that defeated candidates could be given roles in the Central Committee or other responsibilities.
Thapa cited his own experience of electoral defeat within the party, saying he had once contested from the same position and lost with very few votes before staying with the party, continuing his work and winning with a much larger vote count in a subsequent election.
He said electoral victories and defeats should be treated as a normal part of party politics, adding that losing an election should not fundamentally change political decisions.
“I do not believe that winning or losing an election should change political decisions. That would be an apolitical attitude,” Thapa said.
