Nepali Congress

Nepali Congress, the largest party in the dissolved House of Representatives, has found itself in a pickle as two competing factions have proposed two different dates to hold the party’s 15th general convention. This tug of war inside one of the country’s oldest political parties comes at a time when the Gen Z uprising has forced it to make changes in its leadership and go for overall transformation. For almost one month, the party has been debating whether to hold a special convention or a regular one—and whether to convene it before the March 5 parliamentary elections or after it. Two rival factions—one led by party President Sher Bahadur Deuba and another by general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma and senior leader Shekhar Koirala—have proposed two different dates to convene the general convention date, intensifying friction inside the party, said Congress leaders. Amid this, the Deuba-led establishment faction on Monday called a gathering of its faction and discussed various issues including the date of upcoming general convention, said Guru Baral, a central working committee member. In the meeting, leaders from the establishment faction proposed the upcoming 14th convention be held from May 8 to 11. “I will propose the date on behalf of our group at Tuesday's central working committee meeting,” said Baral, adding that the committee has not received any other timetable to hold the convention. But Thapa and Sharma have accused the other side of not allowing them to present the timetable in the ongoing central working committee meeting. Sharma has proposed the convention be held in the last week of December and Thapa in mid-December. The Deuba faction is now led by Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka. However, the rival faction wants to change the party’s leadership ahead of national polls stating that terms of all elected party bodies expire by mid-December.