Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has stressed the need to move ahead with the process of the party's regular general convention by mid-January.
While discussing the matter with party officials at his residence in Maharajgunj on Friday, he directed them to focus on the regular general convention instead of the special general convention.
Deuba also expressed his displeasure, stating that he was ready to leave the party leadership, yet the leaders were divided over the issue of 'regular' versus 'special' convention.
"I have already said I will leave the leadership, and yet you people spend so much time debating it," one official quoted Deuba as saying. "We must proceed by fixing the date for the regular general convention. Time might be short, but in such a situation, we should put all our efforts into it. It must be completed by mid-January now. Why can't it be done? When a person like me, who is ready to step down, says yes, why do you create obstacles?"
According to the official, the matter is moving toward a consensus. "We are hopeful that a consensus will be reached by tomorrow. We are close to an agreement," he said.
However, the General Secretaries had expressed doubts about the shortage of time for the regular general convention.
"If it can be done regularly, we are ready. But there is an apprehension about whether it's possible or not due to the short time frame. We are also in favor of doing it via fast track," said the two General Secretaries, Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma. "We need a commitment on how to complete the work of renewing active membership and distributing new memberships, immediately rejecting those who don't comply, and deploying as many IT personnel as possible at the office to work through computers. There should be no interference in the work."
In the meeting, Gagan Thapa had initially emphasized the special convention, to which Deuba reiterated, "There will be no special convention. If we are doing it, let's do the regular one. Let everyone get involved." Currently, 54 percent of Nepali Congress general convention representatives have submitted signatures demanding a special general convention.
In today's meeting, leaders including Ramesh Lekhak requested General Secretary Thapa to ask the proponents of the special general convention to withdraw their petition. "Ask the General Convention representatives demanding a special general convention to withdraw their letter. The President has already said we will move forward with a schedule for the regular convention. Let's go with consensus," Lekhak had stated.
Immediately, General Secretary Thapa replied, "I cannot take the responsibility of getting the signatures withdrawn. Since you were not ready for the regular convention, handle the resulting situation yourselves."
Nepali Congress Central Working Committee meeting was inaugurated by Deuba himself on October 14. After that, Deuba had gone abroad for treatment, handing over the responsibility of Acting President to Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka.
Since the beginning of the meeting, the leaders have been divided over whether to hold a regular or a special general convention, prolonging the dispute. A solution has not yet been found. Leaders close to President Deuba favor the regular general convention but want to hold it only after the election on March 5.
On the other hand, the two General Secretaries and other leaders are in favor of an immediate special general convention.
Fifty-four percent of the general convention representatives have already submitted signatures demanding a special general convention to Acting President Khadka. The party statute mandates that a petition demanding a special general convention must be put into process within 90 days of its submission.
Just on Friday, Acting President Khadka called the special convention proponents for talks. Leader Gururaj Ghimire said that Khadka called for a meeting at 8 am on Saturday.
"Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka has called a meeting at the President's residence tomorrow, Saturday at 8 am. We have taken his initiative positively," Ghimire said. "However, this is not a meeting called by the party to discuss the special general convention; it is an informal meeting called at his home. An official written petition demanding a special general convention with 2,488 signatures has been formally registered with the party. Our point is that they must now act formally. We will not attend an informal meeting to discuss the special general convention."
Acting President Khadka has been continuously trying to resolve the dispute. President Deuba has been in constant dialogue since yesterday with Acting President Khadka, Vice President Dhanraj Gurung, General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, and leaders close to him, including Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Bimalendra Nidhi, and Ramesh Lekhak. Following continuous discussions, the leaders are close to reaching an agreement.
Nepali Congress Central Working Committee meeting is scheduled for Sunday at 2 pm. Leaders have stated that the schedule for the regular general convention will be presented at this meeting.
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