KATHMANDU, Jan 6: A total of 30 central committee members of the Nepali Congress (NC) met with senior party leader Dr Shekhar Koirala on Thursday amid rising internal tensions within the party.
The leaders, close to NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba and previously supportive of holding the party’s general convention before elections, engaged in a two-and-a-half-hour discussion with Koirala earlier in the morning. During the meeting, they urged him to take the lead in resolving the party’s internal disputes.
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The talks come in the wake of the Central Work Performance Committee’s January 1 decision to postpone the general convention to May 11–14. The move had prompted five senior leaders including General Secretary Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma to formally register dissenting opinions.
Although Dr Koirala did not formally register a note of dissent, he has said he was compelled to accept the majority decision. He had neither openly endorsed nor opposed the idea of a special general convention until recently, when he aligned with the establishment faction’s decision.
According to participants, Dr Koirala also clarified the party’s stance on alliances, stating that while electoral cooperation could be considered for the National Assembly, the NC would not enter into any alliance for the House of Representatives. “Some UML leaders have proposed an alliance even for the House, but the NC will not align with anyone in the HoR election,” he was quoted as saying.
Prior to this meeting, the same group of leaders had also held discussions with President Deuba and General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, emphasizing that internal differences should not lead to a split in the party.
