By TON Nepal

In Nepali Congress, local commissions have been endorsing and candidates are showing their interest to run for general elections. There are three aspirants for the top post of Prime minister. The Congress party president and Prime Minister clearly wants to make a comeback, for the sixth time, and General Secretary is also aspiring for the post.

The country needs an executive role in order to deliver social justice, good governance, and socialism. CPN-UML projected the party chair as its prime ministerial candidate. However, the vice chairman of the Nepal Communist Party (UML) also wants to be the next PM.

In Nepal, a trend is being developed among parties to go to the polls by projecting a leader as the prime ministerial candidate. As the UML is being done. Nonetheless, the general assumption is that the top party leader is the one to take up the top position. In the corridors of the Nepali Congress, there are also talks about the spouse of the current Prime Minister becoming the next PM.

A Central Working Committee of the congress said that there’s no alternative to the current PM at least for now. The general and provincial elections are scheduled for November 20. The current Prime minister became prime minister, for the fifth time, in July last year as per the Supreme Court order, and he clearly wants to return as an elected prime minister.

However, the CPN (Maoist Centre) chair key coalition partner of the current prime minister has also made his desire public to lead the country at least one more time. The aspirations of two Congress leaders for the prime minister’s post come amid the struggle in the ruling coalition for seat-sharing.

Many believe as part of a power-sharing deal between the CPN (Maoist Centre) chair key coalition partner and the current prime minister may share prime minister ship on a rotational basis. However, it has to be decided who will be the first. In July the Maoist chairman said that the tenure of the prime minister can be split into two and a half years between him and the Nepali Congress.

If that happens, the likelihood of any other Congress leader than the current PM becoming the prime minister is low. Some Nepali Congress leaders say while having aspirations for the top post is not wrong, there is a need to take into consideration that there is the party charter that defines who becomes the prime ministerial candidate of the party.

As per the party charter, one should win the election to the Parliamentary Party leader to become the party’s prime ministerial candidate. And there’s nothing like declaring oneself as the prime ministerial candidate in the Congress system.

Anyone of them can become prime minister but the fact is first they need to win the party elections, as winning the constituency alone is not enough,” said Bhandari. “Aspirations are not enough; those who want to lead the country should have the vision, plan, and goals on how they want to strengthen the system and democracy, how they can improve health and education, and how they can address the people’s concerns.”

The incumbent prime minister managed to steer the party to victory in local elections and the congress emerged as the largest party after facing a spectacular defeat in the 2017 general elections. So, the incumbent Prime minister has given momentum to the party and has worked to keep the alliance intact. Therefore, it’s natural for him to lay claim to the prime minister’s post after ensuring a victory for Congress. As far as the power-sharing deal is Maoist chair.

During the 14th general convention of the Nepali Congress that concluded in December, a sizable number of youths made it to the Central Working Committee, the top decision-making body of the party. Many say Congress is finally seeing a power shift to the new generation. However, as far as the prime minister’s post is concerned, it is still a long way to go for the younger generation in Congress.