Breathing back life into PDP

25 April 2009

The new executive members of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are working to breathe back life into the party and take it to new heights and strength before the next elections in 2013.

The executive members said they were working collectively to make the party more credible. The new PDP president and Opposition Leader, Tshering Tobgay, said that in order to make the party credible, they would continue to discharge their responsibilities to the best of their ability.

“We first have to strengthen ourselves and ensure that PDP can serve the nation and have a viable opposition,” he said.

Responding to the general perception that PDP was a weak opposition, the new Secretary General, Sonam Jatsho, said it was a misconception. “We still have our members registered with us more passionately and more members have shown interest to join us,” he said.

The executive members said PDP was weak only in representation in the National Assembly but not as a party because the strength of the party remains with the candidates.

“We are no more weakened than we were before the elections,” said the party president, Tshering Tobgay.

The PDP spokesperson said the previous post holders were selected by the founders. This time, the executive members are ex-candidates and serving MPs.

He said that the new executive members are all mid level professionals who have been actively involved and will work towards giving a new face to PDP.

“The new comers are young and committed. We joined politics in the interest of the country and the people so we are still there to strengthen democracy in the interest of everybody,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said they still had their 33 percent support base.

Ritu Raj Chhetri, one of the vice presidents of the party, said they had come up with new structures and they could afford to make mistakes at the moment as they still had time in their hands.

“The most important priority is to make democracy successful,” said Ritu Raj Chhetri.

“We are sad that the previous president left us but we have equally dynamic people. One person should not be the party it is a group of people with common ideology,” said the spokesperson.

The president said that the party was an institution and that it did not depend on an individual.

The difficulty PDP faces at the moment is lack of fund. None of the present executive members are paid and the head office is also run with a minimum cost.

“We firstly have to clear our loans and win the support of the people and inform them that we are credible,” said the spokesperson.

“We are trying to find a creative way to solve the problem of financial debts,” said Sonam Jatsho.

He added that PDP wanted to be a proactive party open to good ideas and smart people.

BY TANDIN PEM

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