(Excerpts from an interview with Nepali Congress spokesman, Nar Hari Acharya)

Q Deuba and his camp are saying that leadership of the party should be transferred to the younger generation.

A Even before 1959, this was the way in which leaders of the Nepali Congress were elected. In the last convention Chiranjivi Wagle had stood for elections. Only in 1992 was a consensus reached. Everyone has the right to stand for elections. 1435 voters representing more than 4000 VDCs and towns will be present and whoever they want as party president will be elected. Concer-ning the issue of the young and the old, which generation did Wagle represent? The issue of leadership by any generation will be decided by the representatives.



Q Because of the infighting in the NC, the expectations of the people have not been fulfilled in these 10 years. What do you have to say?

A Not only the people's expectations, the expectations of the NC too have not been met. This is the truth but three general elections have been held and each time the people have found the NC the most capable and given it the maximum number of votes. From this we can see we have to become responsible and alert. We are going to review the past 10 years in the forthcoming convention. We are going to find and analyse our faults, where we went wrong and what our future plans are going to be and so on. The president has time and again asked that we review the past 10 years. This is one of the reasons to hold this convention.

Q Will the question of one-man-one-post arise again in the convention?

A This is not a political issue but a personal one. This will happen according to the circumstances present. Sometimes we may have a situation of one-man-two-posts if necessary, while at other times we can go for one-man-one-post, and sometimes there may be no post at all. All this depends on political circumstances, necessities and compulsions.

Q Moving to a different topic, what is the opinion of the NC on the issue being raised nowadays, changes in the constitution?

A We have made our opinion public many times. We have said that if changes have to be brought about, then a complete and precise list of what needs to be changed should be presented. The NC has not prepared any list of what should not be changed. We are prepared to hold discussions with any party that feels that changes are necessary. But first we should get a list and only then will we present our views. The only reservation we have is that changes must be constitutional.