The Koirala family of the Nepali Congress has become suddenly active. Giving politics a new turn the Koirala family members appear to have come closer shunning their familial differences, if any, in order to influence first the internal party politics and then to the national one.

It is perhaps guided by this prime desire to bring the NC under their firm control in some way or the other, the three in the Koirala family that comprises of Dr. Shekhar Koirala, Ms. Sujata Koirala and the youngest among the three, Dr.

Shashank Koirala have intensified their internal meetings of late.

All the three Koiralas’ are blood related cousins and belong to the same family.

The three have in the last three months, say media reports, have been meeting collectively for devising a common strategy with a view on how to influence the impending 14th general convention of the Party.

“We are in close contacts with each other and have decided to go jointly for assuming the central leadership role of the party”, said Dr. Shashank Koirala who is currently the General Secretary of the NC Party.

Junior Koirala is an ophthalmologist by profession.

While talking to media men in his home town Biratnagar, Dr.

Koirala made it clear that people have been making differing speculations about our relations with each other, however, I wish to clarify that we remain united and we will fight for the central leadership.

However, Dr. Shashank says that for such a leadership role only one among the three of us shall come in the front and that too in consensus.

He says that one Koirala among the three shall be fighting for the leadership role of the party and the remaining two will support remaining outside of the political fray.

“We possess now converging opinion as regards the issue of the leadership-role”, clarified Dr. Shashank Koirala.

He further told the media men that “we will take appropriate decisions at the appropriate time.

“We dine together and talk on the issues that have been confronting of late the NC party more so after the last parliamentary elections”, added Dr. Shashank.

Sources close to the Koirala family in Biratnagar opine that the three cousins have inched closer in order to serve a purpose which is to embrace all the NC men and pushing Deuba to the wall.

If the said unity of the Koirala family members is true then such an accord poses a great challenge to the incumbent party President Deuba and shall also bring in simultaneously grave threat to the politics of Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel, so writes the Naya Patrika Daily.

Observers in Kathmandu believe that if the Koiralas’ accommodate the NC stalwarts of the sort of Mr. PM Singh, KP Sitaula, Bijaya Gachhedar and KB Gurung and bring in all of these politicos under single umbrella then Sher bahadur Deuba is sure to land in a serious problem whose negative impact shall also be felt in the Poudel camp.

Poor Poudel has been hopefully banking on the support of the Koirala family to elevate his ranks in the party and also in the government, however, the recent alignments seen in the Koirala family frustrates the inner designs of Ram Chandra Poudel.

Poudel is hoping against hope.

(With inputs from the Nuwakot Express date August 20/18).