Nepali Congress witnessing demands for leadership change

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/232B5A6CB87AB301652574B8004EC41A?OpenDocument

Kathmandu, Sep 2 (PTI) Nepali Congress, once the largest party in the country which lost ground to Maoists in the recent polls, is focussing on an organisational revamp amid calls for a new leadership that could steer it towards a fresh direction in a more competitive political atmosphere.The eight-day long central committee meeting of the NC saw majority of the members voicing demands for a leadership change, party sources said here today.The NC, which was in the forefront of the 2006 popular uprising against now-deposed King Gyanendra, was pushed to the second spot by the Maoists in April 10 Constituent Assembly elections. It decided to sit in the opposition following differences with Maoists on power-sharing but succeeded in installing party nominee Ram Baran Yadav as Nepal's President.During the meeting that began Monday, some Central leaders also mooted a collective leadership, involving top leaders like Ramchandra Paudyal, Shushil Koirala and Sher Bahadur Deuba, the sources said.NC chief and former prime minister G P Koirala, who is in his eighties, has been facing health problems for long.The party's central members also expressed the view that NC lost the April election due to organisational weaknesses.They urged the leadership to call the general convention, which is authorised to change the leadership of the party, by April next year. The general body has some 1,500 members and its meeting is convened every three years. PTI