The establishment faction of Nepali Congress (NC) has refused to accept all but one point of the eight-point proposal sent by General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma as a final effort to maintain unity within the grand old party.
The two general secretaries sent the message of a final alternative for consensus to Acting NC President Purna Bahadur Khadka. Acting President Khadka has replied that no proposals can be accepted except for changing President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s signature on the names of candidates sent to the Election Commission.
Khadka stated that the proposals to declare Gagan Thapa as the future PM before the election and for President Deuba to remain inactive in party affairs cannot be accepted.
According to a Central Committee member participating in the ongoing meeting at the party office in Sanepa, Acting President Khadka informed the committee that no options other than changing the president's signature are acceptable.
"We have already sent a reply stating that we cannot accept anything except for that one proposal," the member quoted Khadka as saying during the meeting. "We have asked them to provide their stance on this quickly."
The eight points of consensus sent by the duo were as follows:
1. To take collective ownership of the Special General Convention.
2. To implement the passed resolutions along with necessary amendments.
3. The president shall not play an active role; specifically, the president will not sign the candidacy letters (tickets).
4. To form a parliamentary board to select candidates.
5. To contest the upcoming election field as a unified force.
6. The Nepali Congress will compete alone in the upcoming election without forming an electoral alliance with any other party.
7. To announce a prime ministerial candidate from the Nepali Congress before the upcoming election.
8. To form a five-member body including the acting president, the two general secretaries, and two additional leaders to coordinate and implement these tasks.
The general secretaries sent this final option after talks held this morning at President Sher Bahadur Deuba's residence in Maharajgunj failed to reach an agreement.
Their proposal suggested that Deuba will not perform any executive actions as party leader, and Acting President Khadka will sign the tickets for parliamentary candidates.
Furthermore, a High Command of four to five leaders would be created to take key decisions during the interim period until the next General Convention. Crucially, they propose announcing Gagan Thapa as the future prime ministerial candidate and heading into the election under his leadership.
Discussions have been ongoing since Tuesday regarding the members of this high command, which is expected to include Acting President Khadka, General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, and senior leader Shekhar Koirala.
The High Command will manage the party's regular activities and make necessary decisions until the next General Convention. The 15th General Convention of the Nepali Congress is scheduled to be held in the month of Baisakh (April/May).
Spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat has already stated that President Deuba is flexible regarding stepping away from party duties and refraining from using his signature for distributing election tickets.
While this final push for consensus continues, there has been a delay in publishing the final list of candidates and proceeding with the voting process for the Special General Convention.
According to the nominations that closed at 11 am, Thapa is the sole candidate for the post of president. Similarly, only Bishwa Prakash Sharma and Pradip Paudel have filed nominations for general secretary, while Bahadur Singh Lama has filed for joint general secretary. Lama is the former chief minister of Bagmati Province. There are eight joint general secretary positions in NC.
