GPK wants Sujata to lead

KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala today disclosed that he wanted his daughter Sujata to lead the party in the new government. However, senior NC leaders stand divided over
the decision.
“Koirala informed this to party leaders at his residence. Though Sher Bahadur Deuba, Gopal Man Shrestha and Bimalendra Nidhi supported him, Sushil Koirala and Ram Chandra Paudel opposed the move,” claimed a source in the NC. “Koirala proposed Sujata’s name as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He said that she would lead our party in the government,” said Bimalendra Nidhi, general secretary, NC.
“No discussion was held within the party about who should lead the team,” said Paudel. The NC president has entrusted Deuba with the responsibility to finalise the names of NC candidates for the Cabinet berths.
Deuba has been urged to finalise the names by tomorrow in consultation with other leaders. Last week, the party’s central committee meeting had decided that Koirala should take a final call on the NC’s representatives in the Cabinet. During a meeting with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and UML leaders, including president Jhala Nath Khanal, today, Koirala proposed Sujata’s name as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Sources claimed that he demanded seven ministerial berths for his party. The PM and UML leaders visited Koirala’s residence at Maharajgunj to discuss the issue of Cabinet expansion.
Sources maintained that Prakash Man Singh, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Purna Kumar Sharma, Mohamad Aftab Alam, Umakanta Chaudhari, Ajaya Kumar Chaurasia from Parsa and Narayan Prasad Saud from Kanchanpur might represent the NC in the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, both the NC and the UML have come to an understanding that the Home and Finance portfolios would be handled by the latter. But, this is subject to the approval of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF) and other parties in the ruling coalition. The UML, too, is likely to announce the names of its representatives in the Cabinet tomorrow. The MJF and the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) are still at the horns of a dilemma over their ministerial aspirants. Major parties expect that the Cabinet expansion will take place tomorrow evening. The Common Minimum Programme will be signed at the 22-party meeting, which is slated to be held at 3 pm tomorrow.