KATHMANDU, April 28: The Nepali Congress (NC) has elected Bhishma Raj Angdembe as its Parliamentary Party (PP) leader, while Bashana Thapa will become Chief Whip and Nishkal Rai is expected to serve as Whip, as the party moves ahead with a consensus-based leadership arrangement.
The decisions were reached unanimously by the party’s central working committee and formally endorsed by the PP meeting.
Angdembe, a proportional representation (PR) lawmaker, will take charge as PP leader, marking the first unanimous selection for the post since the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections. His selection comes after initial consideration of leaders including Arjun Narsingh KC and Mohan Acharya, with party members eventually converging on his name as a consensus figure.
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He was elected Joint General Secretary from the Sher Bahadur Deuba faction during the party’s 14th general convention. Although he did not take part in the Special General Convention that elected Gagan Thapa as party president, Angdembe has publicly stated that he does not wish to be identified with any faction and has expressed readiness to work in line with the party leadership.
Senior leaders including Vice President Bishwa Prakash Sharma, had backed Angdembe’s leadership as part of efforts to project internal unity. Party sources said he has secured majority support within the 38-member parliamentary party, with backing from both the Sher Bahadur Deuba and Shekhar Koirala factions.
Bashana Thapa, elected for the first time from Dailekh Constituency–1, is set to serve as Chief Whip of the parliamentary party. Thirty-five-year-old Nishkal Rai, elected from Ilam–1, will take on the role of Whip.
Rai entered party politics in 2022 after earlier involvement with the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) and has worked as director of the “Hamro Swayamsewi Program” under the Koshi Province government, besides being associated with organisations including the Red Cross.
To facilitate consensus, the NC Central Working Committee had formed a four-member task force under Vice President Bishwa Prakash Sharma including Vice President Pushpa Bhusal and General Secretaries Guru Raj Ghimire and Pradeep Paudel.
The task force’s proposal was presented at the central working committee meeting on Monday. While agreement was reached on the leadership lineup, the appointments will be formally endorsed by the PP meeting in line with party statute, which vests such authority in the PP leader.
