Excerpts of an interview with Narahari Acharya, member of the Nepali Congress

Who is responsible for the present state of affairs in the Congress?
I hold Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba responsible, looking at the present state of affairs. But many past incidents have also contributed to bringing the situation to this pass. If the party president had been able to control the prime minister in time, we might have been able to avoid this accident.

So the party is also responsible?
There are two parties in any fight. Many fights are avoidable, if one party can remain controlled and use its common sense.

But with whom does greater blame lie-the prime minister or the party president [Girija Prasad Koirala]?
It was the disciplinary committee's decision to expel the prime minister from the party. The Central Working Committee retains the authority to cancel that decision or amend it even now. But Prime Minister Deuba, by dissolving parliament, has done something that even he cannot reverse or correct, so I find him more at fault.

What options did the prime minister have after the party ordered him to withdraw the government proposal to extend the emergency?
He could have spoken his mind in parliament and retracted the proposal-that would not have diminished his prestige. Even after the party's decision if the prime minister was convinced that an extension of the emergency was essential, he could have taken the proposal to the parliamentary party meeting after the party's decision was made. If the parliamentary party had approved, he could have informed the party and taken his proposal forward in parliament. If he had done that, it would've been difficult to criticise the prime minister either politically or legally.