KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated the 14th general convention of the Nepali Congress at the Bhrikuti Mandap here on Friday, a highly anticipated four-day convention convened by the ruling party to elect the 134-member Central Working Committee and 13 office-bearers, including the party president.
Five leaders including Prime Minister Deuba, Ram Chandra Paudel, Bimalendra Nidhi, Sherkar Koirala and Prakash Man Singh are vying for the top post, while ten other candidates are running for the general secretary's post, with over 4,500 Nepali Congress delegates casting their votes.
Observers are expecting Prime Minister Deuba,75, to be re-elected as the party president, after candidates file the nomination papers on Saturday and voting ends on Tuesday.
Friday's inauguration was attended by the top political leaders of all major parties, including CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Janata Samajwadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Chairman Mahanta Thakur.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Deuba called his party cadres to elect him for the post of party president for the second term, with the promise of galvanising the Nepali Congress into the largest democratic party in the upcoming general elections.
Senior BJP leader Harsh Vardhan, who addressed the meeting as an invitee, said that "Nepal and India share similar culture, social cohesiveness and Hindutva.
" On the occasion, he also extended his wishes for the successful completion of the Nepali Congress general convention on behalf of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the BJP President Jagat Prasad Nadda, and vowed to consolidate ties between the two countries.
"India has always come forward when Nepal faced any difficulties including the 2015 earthquake and the present COVID-19 pandemic," he added.