KATHMANDU, March 10: The joint leadership of two or more chiefs has become a new trend among political parties. Following this latest trend, the newly unified pro-Hindu state Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has decided to appoint three chairpersons.
After unification between the Kamal Thapa-led RPP, Pashupati Shumshere Janga Bahadur Rana-led RPP (Democratic) and Prakash Chandra Lohani-led RPP (Rastrabadi), the new party appointed all three leaders as chairpersons of the unified RPP on Saturday.
However, this leadership model was unsuccessful among these same political parties in the past. All three became divided over leadership and election symbol just before the 2017 parliamentary polls.
Almost all national parties represented in parliament have two or more chairpersons. The main opposition Nepali Congress is a notable exception. Two fringe parties, Rasyriya Janamorcha and Nepal Workers Peasants Party, also have single leaderships so far.
Great Leadership: A Road Less Traveled
The Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN), which was formed after the unification of six fringe Madhes-based political parties, decided to adopt collective leadership. Upon failing to agree on a single leader, they decided to appoint the heads of all six parries as presidium members of the party.
RJPN has failed to hold its general convention even three years after the unification of the six fringe parties. RJPN has yet again postponed the general convention for November. It had been scheduled for April.
Even newly-emerged political parties have followed the joint leadership practice in the past. After unification between Bibeksheel Nepali Dal and Sajha Party into the Bibeksheel Sajha Party, it appointed Ujjwal Thapa of Bibeksheel and Rabindra Mishra of Sajha as co-chairpersons of the party. But the party split last year over misunderstanding among the leadership.
The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) also has dual leadership with its two chairpersons of the party. Prime Minister KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal both became chairpersons after the party merger in 2018. Following a leadership row, the party appointed Dahal as executive chairperson last year, increasing his role in the party.
Samajbadi Party also has adopted a two chairpersons structure after it was formed following merger between Federal Socialist Forum Nepal led by Upendra Yadav and Naya Shakti Party led by Baburam Bhattarai in May last year.
Political analyst Mrigendra Bahadur Karki sees divergence of ideology among political parties as the major reason behind appointing two or more chiefs in a single party.
“One major reason behind appointing multiple chiefs in a party is divergence in their political ideology,” Karki opined to Republica.
“Most of those parties having multiple chiefs have compulsions to accommodate various factions and some don’t have a charismatic leader acceptable to all factions,” he added.
