KATHMANDU, JUL 02 - Pashupati Murarka has been assured the post of the president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) after two other contenders bowed out of the race. When he is sworn in on Friday, he will be the first president from the Marwari community in two decades.
The way to the top post in the apex body of Nepal’s private sector became clear for Murarka after the two other hopefuls, Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Bhawani Rana, pulled out from the race late in the campaign and gave him their endorsement.
Rajkarnikar announced he was stepping aside in favour of Murarka on Tuesday while Rana issued her statement the next day.
Murarka will be the second Marwari president of the FNCCI after Binod Chaudhary of the Chaudhary Group who served as its chief from 1993-95. Most of the FNCCI presidents have been from the Newar community.
Prominent Marwari industrialists Diwakar Golchha and Rajendra Khetan have made it to the position of the senior vice-president and second vice-president respectively, but they have not been able to secure the top post. According to the FNCCI Secretariat, Murarka will be declared the president amid a programme in Kathmandu on Friday.
“This is a historic day for the FNCCI. It is proof of our unity which will have long-term significance and relevance,” said Murarka, thanking his rivals for showing their solidarity in maintaining unity in the FNCCI and former presidents for their constant lobbying to name a unanimous candidate.
Addressing a function, Murarka said he would be working proactively to pull the economy out of the post-earthquake crisis, bring businesses back to normal in coordination with the government and provide inputs from the private sector to the draft constitution.
The FNCCI’s top post has remained vacant since Pradeep Jung Pandey was sent to jail on March 18 for a three-decade-old corruption case. Murarka will be leading the FNCCI for the remaining term of around 21 months.
Presidential candidate Rana said she withdrew from the race for the sake of consensus. “The need of the hour in the FNCCI is unity. If we go through an election, we cannot rise above two or three factions,” Rana said. “I am sure the FNCCI will acknowledge my contribution and make a judgment accordingly in the days to come.”
Well-informed FNCCI sources said that Rana would be named the senior vice-president by the executive committee. Officiating President Murarka is currently the senior vice-president. Rana had lost to Murarka in the last election.
Once he assumes the office of the president, the post of senior vice-president will fall vacant. Former FNCCI presidents have pledged to help Rana in the next election. Rana expects to make history by becoming the first female president of the six-decade-old FNCCI.
Likewise, Rajkarnikar said that despite pulling out from the election, his quest to establish the rule of law in the FNCCI has been fulfilled. “I wasn’t against a single person. I was against a person leading the FNCCI who wasn’t eligible as per its statutes,” said Rajkarnikar, hinting at Pandey. “I am sure that Murarka will be successful in eradicating the tendency of creating factions in the FNCCI and making it a professional institution.”
Sources said that Rajkarnikar had withdrawn his candidacy for fear of losing the election. Since Murarka had made it clear that he would not pull out if there was no possibility of a consensus and Rana wasn’t too keen on stepping aside for Rajkarnikar, he had no other option but to leave the race.
Furthermore, Rana had represented Pandey’s panel in the last election while Murarka and Rajkarnikar were from the same panel. This means that if an election were to be held, the votes of Murarka and Rajkarnikar would be divided and raise Rana’s chances of winning.
Former presidents Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, Chandi Raj Dhakal, Kush Kumar Joshi and Suraj Vaidya were present at the event. All the past chiefs stressed the need for unity in the FNCCI and praised the action taken by Rana and Rajkarnikar for the sake of the institution.
“We are happy that both the contenders withdrew in favour of the larger interest of the institution,” Shrestha said. Vaidya said that all the former presidents would fully support Murarka and urged him to immediately start work to ensure the rights of the business community in the constitution being written.
Vaidya and Dhakal, in particular, are said to have played a crucial role in getting Murarka named as the unanimous candidate. While Vaidya is close to Rajkarnikar, Dhakal supported Rana. The two former presidents had held a series of meetings with the presidential hopefuls to urge them to go for a consensus
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