Issue No: 944; 16 July 2001

The decision to change the leader was made by the NFP yesterday when it launched its manifesto and announced 35 candidates for the next election. There are 71 seats in the House of Reps.

The leadership change takes to 4 leaders for the party within 2 years. First, lawyer Jai Ram Reddy resigned after he lost the national election in 1999. Then Attar Singh took over the reigns. Earlier this year, Harish Sharma was given the leadership role. Yesterday Biman Prasad was appointed the leader.

It is understood that a tough challenge was launched by Prasad against the leadership of Attar Singh who wanted to come back to the position.

NFP has been besieged by leadership crisis for over past 2 decades. In 19977, it could not form a government despite winning the elections because of leadership dispute. It later split into two factions, called the Dove and the Flower factions. In 1982, it again split into two factions, one led by the temporarily united party's General Secretary and another by its President. In 1987, its image was rehabilitated when the Fiji Labour Party accepted NFP's offer of a coalition with it. After the military coups in 1987, the Party abandoned the people of Fiji as its leaders fled for other countries. In 1992 Jai Ram Reddy became the party's leader. Veteran Harish Sharma was sidelined after this. Sharma took the cue and decided to retire, saying that the party had no chance of winning the elections. Over the past 2 years, Prasad, Singh and one James Raman were involved in a bitter tussle for the party leadership.

Inside sources claim that the division was over sections of the Manifesto which the Party launched yesterday. Large chunks of the manifesto have been lifted from the People's Coalition manifesto. Party sources claim that the plagiarism was spearheaded by the university lecturer in his bid for leadership of the party. This did not go well with the other faction.

Already one NFP aspirant has claimed that the party practices communalism. Clement Joseph, an outspoken defender of the party until yesterday, stated: "It seems the selection [of candidates] is based on Hindu, Muslim, and South Indian lines but we the Christians, are totally ignored".