The developments on Saturday indicated that the establishment and non-establishment factions within the Nepali Congress are drifting further away from reaching an agreement.
Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka held an informal discussion on Saturday with current and former office-bearers at a hotel in Kupondole, Lalitpur, in an effort to forge consensus. Meanwhile, a separate meeting of leaders from the establishment faction took place in New Baneshwar on the same day.
The New Baneshwar meeting concluded that no regular or special general convention could be held before the elections, according to a leader present at the meeting.
On the day after NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba returned from Singapore, six former office-bearers from the Deuba faction convened a gathering of the establishment faction in New Baneshwar. Notably, the 24 central members from the Deuba faction who had demanded a general convention before the elections were absent from the meeting.
According to the leader who attended the New Baneshwar meeting, the establishment faction concluded that the party should focus all its energy on the elections for now and a schedule should be prepared afterward to hold the general convention.
In the meantime, Acting President Khadka has already met with Deuba and briefed him on the issues raised in the central committee, said an NC office-bearer. Acting President Khadka and spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat had also gone to Tribhuvan International Airport on Friday evening to welcome the Deuba couple.
It was after the meeting with President Deuba that Acting President Khadka held informal one-on-one talks with leaders from both factions.
Even during these informal one-on-one discussions, initiated to forge consensus between the two factions, establishment faction leaders reiterated their longstanding stance that a general convention could not be held before the elections.
According to sources, during Saturday's discussion held in Kupondole, former office-bearers Bimalendra Nidhi and Krishna Prasad Sitaula emphasized the need to focus on the elections rather than the general convention for now, stating that the NC’s situation is different from that of other parties.
Within the NC, there are differing opinions on whether to hold a regular or special general convention before the March 5 elections or a regular convention by mid-May after the elections. General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma have maintained that a regular or special general convention must be held before the elections. In their discussions with Acting President Khadka on Saturday, too, they said that "if a regular general convention does not take place, a special one will be held as per the statute." Leader Shekhar Koirala is also in favor of holding a regular general convention by mid-January.
However, some current and former office-bearers from President Deuba's faction say that the party should focus on the elections first and hold the general convention only afterward. They argue that a general convention held before the elections would create divisions down to the grassroots level, adversely affecting the elections.
Due to this dispute over the date of the general convention, the central committee meeting, which began on October 14, has not been able to reach a decision yet. Khadka has repeatedly postponed the meeting and made efforts to build consensus. For this reason, the meeting has been adjourned until Monday afternoon at 2 p.m.
In the central committee meeting on November 4, General Secretary Thapa proposed holding the 15th general convention from December 31 to January 3. He said that all active membership could be finalized by then, allowing the convention to proceed.
Of the nearly 900,000 active members in the NC, more than 600,000 have already renewed their memberships. However, the distribution of new active memberships has not yet begun.
District committees have not submitted all the details of active membership renewals to the central office. Citing this as the reason, some current and former office-bearers from the Deuba faction have been saying that it will take time for active membership renewals, new distributions, and complaint investigations, making a general convention possible only in April or May.
General Secretary Thapa said in the central committee meeting itself that if various excuses are made in this manner to conclude that a regular general convention cannot be held, then there would be no alternative to a special general convention.
Previously, on October 15, 54 percent of the general convention delegates had submitted their signatures to Acting President Khadka, demanding a special general convention. As per the statute, a special general convention must be held within three months of such a demand.
On the basis of this provision, General Secretary Thapa argued that a special general convention is mandatory and even proposed it for December 13 and 14 in the central committee.
Min Bahadur Bishwakarma, chief of the NC’s publicity department, said that the formal and informal consultations held by the acting president have been positive and that a unanimous decision will be made by the central committee.
"Yesterday, a central working committee meeting was held. We have asked the acting president to bring a consensus proposal," he told Setopati on Saturday. "Today, the acting president has held one-on-one discussions with leaders. The discussions are positive; we will reach a decision unanimously through the central committee itself."
The NC central committee has been ongoing for a month but failed to reach any decision, drawing criticism of the leadership. In response, Acting President Khadka said on Saturday that although it may take some time, a unanimous decision will be reached.
"Considering the adverse situation facing the country and the party, even if there is a slight delay in making a decision, it is taking time to keep the party united and face these adverse times, acknowledge our past mistakes and weaknesses and apologize to the Nepali people, and make an appropriate party decision that allows the Congress to once again lead the solution as it has in the past, rather than making hasty decisions and regretting later," Khadka wrote on social media on Saturday.
He also appealed for patience, noting that it is taking some time to make a decision that keeps the party united and enables it to face the adverse times.
