KATHMANDU, Jan 12: After weeks of intense speculation and mounting fears of a split within the country’s largest political party, top leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) have moved toward dialogue in a bid to preserve party unity.
Senior leaders from the party’s establishment faction, led by NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, have decided that Deuba himself, along with Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka, will hold direct talks with the party’s two General Secretaries, Gagan Thapa and Biswa Prakash Sharma. The initiative is aimed at easing tensions and preventing a formal rupture.
“No one wants the party to split. The President has initiated these discussions to ensure both the party and its vote base remain united,” a senior leader present at the meeting said.
Earlier, senior NC leader Dr Shekhar Koirala also struck a conciliatory tone, telling his loyalists that he was willing to go to any extent to save the party from collapse. “I am ready to drink poison to save the party,” Dr Koirala said, underscoring the gravity of the internal crisis.
Great Leadership: A Road Less Traveled
Despite these reconciliatory signals, tensions remain high as rival factions continue to lock horns over the contentious issue of leadership change through the ongoing Special General Convention, which has been extended until Tuesday. Sources said the establishment faction, led by Deuba, is seeking to take ownership of the convention by framing it as a policy-focused gathering, while firmly opposing any attempt to change the party’s leadership through the process.
In contrast, the rival faction, backed by General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, has been lobbying for leadership change. However, both leaders said during the convention’s inauguration on Sunday that they were not driven by personal ambition or the pursuit of positions within the party.
As debates over ideology, leadership and legitimacy intensify, the party has called a meeting of its Central Working Committee (CWC) for Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the NC central office in Sanepa. The meeting is widely seen as crucial in determining whether the party moves toward reconciliation or slides into deeper confrontation.
Meanwhile, the second Special General Convention has been extended until Tuesday after delegates failed to conclude deliberations on the reports submitted by the two General Secretaries. According to Manoj Mani Acharya, coordinator of the Special Convention, discussions on the reports will continue until Tuesday, after which the leadership selection process is expected to begin.
“In-depth discussions on the reports submitted by General Secretaries Gagan Kumar Thapa and Biswo Prakash Sharma are ongoing and will continue on Tuesday. Only after this will the leadership selection process move forward,” Acharya said.
Speaking at a press conference after Monday’s closed session, Acharya also expressed confidence that President Deuba and Acting President Khadka would join the convention by Tuesday and that the new leadership would be finalised. He added that if leadership issues are not resolved by then, the Special General Convention would assume the responsibilities of a regular general convention and move ahead with the election process.
“We are still making efforts to finalise leadership issues. We are confident it will happen by tomorrow. If not, the Special General Convention will undertake the work normally done by the regular convention, and we will move forward with the election process,” he said.
