The Deuba faction waited till Monday evening for the party establishment to persuade Paudel to quit and pave the way for senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time prime minister, to become his successor. But the wait bore no fruit. [break]
"The party president conveyed to us this evening that he could not persuade Paudel despite all efforts," said Gopal Man Shrestha, who is close to Deuba. "Now we are going to register a no-confidence motion against him at 10 a.m. tomorrow [Wednesday]."
But Paudel said that such a move would be morally, constitutionally and politically wrong in the context of President Ram Baran Yadav already calling on the parties to form a new government.
"With the President calling today for the formation of a new government under Article 38 (1), the election process has already begun. I, as leader of the parliamentary party, am the candidate for prime minister and it is morally, constitutionally and politically wrong to file a no-confidence motion against me," Paudel told Republica when asked about the Deuba faction´s planned move against him.
But the Deuba faction is hell bent on unseating Paudel. "We will withhold our move only if Paudel agrees to step down" said Shrestha.
The Deuba faction has put forth two arguments in seeking Paudel´s removal. First, they claim that party President Koirala had agreed with Deuba to make the latter parliamentary party leader in exchange for his support to get Paudel and Krishna Sitaula endorsed by the party central committee as vice-president and general secretary respectively. Secondly, the Deuba faction argues that Deuba has a better chance of being election prime minister than Paudel given that Paudel could not win the prime ministerial election even in the 17th round of voting earlier this year.
But Paudel has argued that he has a legitimate claim to be the party´s prime ministerial candidate by virtue of being the elected parliamentary party leader.
The Deuba faction claims it has the support of 60 out of 114 NC lawmakers, but leaders close to the party establishment dismiss this. Shrestha claimed that 12 more lawmakers have also promised their support.
"Even lawmakers close to President Koirala have been tricked into signing their support for him [Deuba]. They will not vote for Deuba if an election for parliamentary party leader is held," said a senior leader close to Koirala and Paudel.
Paudel defeated Deuba in the last election of the parliamentary party in 2009.
NC leaders like Dr Ram Sharan Mahat had taken initiatives throughout Monday to bring both Paudel and Deuba on board and seek an amicable solution. But as both leaders stuck to their positions the initiatives failed, said a senior leader privy to developments.
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