KATHMANDU, Jan 4: Nepali Congress (NC) has called a meeting of its office-bearers in an effort to resolve internal disagreements that have emerged over the scheduling of the party’s 15th general convention.
The meeting has been called for 2:00 PM on Sunday at the party’s central office in Sanepa.
The move comes after the party’s Central Work Performance Committee voted on Friday to postpone the 15th general convention and hold it in Kathmandu from May 11 to 14. The decision was taken after the party failed to meet key organisational deadlines under the previously announced convention schedule.
CPN (Maoist Centre) office bearers’ meeting today
However, the decision has triggered dissent within the NC. General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, Joint-General Secretary Farmullah Mansur, and Central Working Committee members Arjun Narsingh KC and Uma Regmi registered formal objections to the postponement.
Escalating the dispute, General Secretary Thapa has declared that the party will go ahead with a special general convention on the pre-announced date of January 11 and 12 regardless of the revised schedule. His position is backed by a petition signed by 2,488 convention delegates (approximately 54 %) submitted immediately after the September 8 and 9 Gen Z protest, demanding special convention.
Under the party statute, a special general convention must be called within three months if at least 40 percent of convention delegates formally request it. Thapa argues that this constitutional provision remains binding.
The party establishment, however, maintains that the petition has become invalid after the party formally announced the date of its regular general convention on January 2, effectively rendering the earlier demand inactive.
With rival interpretations of the party statute and growing factional pressure, Sunday’s office-bearers’ meeting is seen as a critical attempt to defuse tensions and chart a way forward for Nepal’s largest political party.
