ITS A VERY GOOD NEWS FOR ALL NOW IT HELP TO BRING THE LOKTANTRA STABLE Finally, NC, NC-D unite By Sanjeev Ghimire KATHMANDU, Sept 25 - After more than five years of separation and protracted negotiations, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the breakaway NC-Democratic formally unified through a joint Maha Samiti meeting Tuesday. The party unification was formally announced through a joint Maha Samiti meeting of both the factions at NC headquarters at Sanepa in Lalitpur district this afternoon. The NC-Democratic Maha Samiti Meeting at the Birendra International Convention Center in the capital in the run up to the joint meeting of the Maha Samiti of both the parties had endorsed a unification proposal earlier in the afternoon. The party’s central working committee was held ahead of the Maha Samiti meeting. This morning, Prime Minister and NC President Girija Prasad Koirala and NC-D President Sher Bahadur Deuba sealed an agreement on the party unification “making sacrifices for the greater interest of the party, democracy and the country” during their meeting held at PM’s official residence at Baluwatar, sources informed. The members of the taskforces on party unification of both the factions were also present there. NC Vice-president Sushil Koirala will become acting president of the unified party while the party's founding leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and NC-D President Deuba will get the second and the third positions, respectively. Bhattarai, who has been living a life of political seclusion after the NC split, also attended today’s Maha Samiti meeting. NC-D Vice-presidents, Gopal Man Shrestha and Prakash Man Singh, have been retained in the same post in the unified party. Similarly, NC General Secretaries Ram Chandra Poudel and KB Gurung and NC-D General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi have been retained while NC leader Dr Ram Baran Yadav has also been inducted as fourth general secretary. All the 27 Central Working Committee members from NC-D and 37 from NC have been retained to form a joint CWC of the unified party. Both the sides have agreed to form a 27-member powerful parliamentary committee and central work performance committee comprising 55 percent members from NC and 45 percent from NC-D. The leaders also have agreed to merge party units at all tiers to form joint bodies and give their leadership on the basis of seniority and their contribution to the democratic movement. They have agreed to run VDC and constituency-level committees through the president and joint presidents if the units fail to agree on a senior leader to lead the committees. The Maha Samiti meeting is expected to conclude tomorrow taking another historical decision to endorse a proposal for a federal democratic republic—breaking away from the policy of constitutional monarchy, which it had religiously adhered to since its inception back in 1947. In 2002, the NC had split after then party president Koirala and then Prime Minister and the parliamentary party leader Deuba locked their horns over extension of the state of emergency through the then House of Representatives to mobilize the army to fight the then Maoist insurgents. Dissolution of the House by Deuba forced him to form NC-D. The estrangement ended in the build-up to ahead of the April uprising. Fallouts of NC’s transformation The NC’s unification has apparently given a political mileage to the party. Firstly, the NC, which is already the largest party in the interim parliament with 85 seats, will know have 133 seats in the House with merger of 48 slots of the NC-D. CPN-Maoist follows with 84 seats after merger of CPN-MLM on Monday. UML is in the third position in 330-member parliament. The party merger will also help the NC leadership find an answer to a crucial question the party was confronting for years: Who will succeed NC President Koirala. "I have decided to sacrifice everything as I know the cadres cannot sacrifice themselves if the leaders don't do so," Koirala had said at yesterday’s Maha Samiti meeting. The octogenarian leader was apparently hinting at his intention to hand over change of party presidency to the next generation. "It was my responsibility to reinstate the party in its past position. It was unavoidable due to my age also," said emotionally charged Koirala before the Maha Samiti members passed the unity proposal. The NC unification coupled with its commitment to declare the country a republic has boosted the morale of the party rank and file. Both the factions were facing dilemma whether to gear up for the Constituent Assembly elections rescheduled for November 22 as separate parties or to wait for the unification. As Koirala claimed the other day, the message of unity would make the international community happy. The international community, especially the United States and India, wanted the NC unification to consolidate democratic forces in the country at a time Leftist influence has significantly increased in the Nepali political landscape. Seven out of 11 parties in the interim parliament are the Leftist. If the NC formally opts for a federal democratic republic—and it is very likely considering the pressure from the party activists—then it is also expected to help defuse the prevailing political stand-off between the seven parties and the Maoists stemming from the latter’s insistence on declaration of a republic ahead of the Constituent Assembly elections slated for November 22. Only today, Maoist Chairman Prachanda and Home Minister and NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula have agreed to issue a joint statement expressing commitment of the eight parties to declare the country republic, a source said. “The parties are discussing about passing a commitment proposal on a republic through parliament after the top leaders sign an agreement on a republic,” the source added Major parties including CPN-UML and Maoists, which have already stood in favour of a republic, have lauded the NC’s latest decision, though the Maoists have welcomed the move cautiously. These parties had been urging the NC to clarify its stance on the monarchy for months.