Kathmandu, October 27
The Krishna Prasad Sitaula-led faction in Nepali Congress has complained that leaders belonging to the faction have not been involved in the process of candidacy ticket distribution for upcoming provincial and federal parliamentary elections.
As the party on Thursday published the list of constituencies fixed for its top leaders, no one except Gagan Thapa has been featured on the list from Sitaula camp.
Sitaula himself is being barred from contesting the first-past-the-post elections and join the group of proportional representation candidates as the party is preparing to partner with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party for the polls.
It has been learned that RPP leader Rajendra Lingden will contest the polls there with the Congress support.
Congress leaders and cadres close to Sitaula say some pro-monarchy leaders within the party are strategically backing Sitaula into a corner. It is interesting to note that Sitaula has been an ardent advocate of republicanism and secularism in the party. Lingden, on the other hand, is a hard-liner leader of the party advocating monarchy and Hindu state.
“I am not derailed from my conviction, but attacks have been made against me,” Sitaula reportedly tells leaders close to him these days.
The team has complained that its key leaders including Umakanta Chaudhary, Taraman Gurung and Pradip Paudel are also being deprived of candidacy tickets.
