Nepal, Aug. 15 -- In yet another case of intra-party political discord leaking into its sister organisations, rival factions of the youth wing of the Rastriya Prajantra Party (RPP) clashed on Wednesday, forcing an abrupt postponement of the wing's Kathmandu district convention. In the process, a sister wing of a political party again showed itself to be no more than a puppet of the leaders of the mother party. The ugly truth is that their use as a political weapon has greatly corrupted these organisations over the years.

In the partyless Panchayat era, political parties operating underground needed these organisations to raise political awareness and strengthen support for their movements. While former King Mahendra's iron-fist rule barr...