Internal Rift Threatens Split in Nepali Congress as Factions Prepare for Parallel Meetings

Kathmandu. The Nepali Congress is standing on the brink of a party split following the escalation of internal strife. While the current working committee led by Gagan Thapa is focused on election review, the faction led by former President Sher Bahadur Deuba and influential leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala has intensified their parallel activities.

A secret meeting of top leaders from the Deuba and Koirala factions held in Dhumbara on Sunday concluded that the current leadership has failed to steer the party in the right direction. They are now preparing to call a separate meeting of the Central Committee elected during the 14th General Convention. The meeting was attended by influential leaders including the then acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dr. Shekhar Koirala.

They determined that a major reason for the party's severe defeat in the recent elections was rendering the Central Committee members elected from the General Convention ineffective. According to leader Shyam Ghimire, the elected Central Committee members are currently in complete limbo, and sidelining them has weakened the party's organizational structure.

Leader Ghimire warned that this 'ego' battle within the party will further shrink the Congress in the upcoming elections. He stated that while the immediate necessity is to unite the party, the adherence of both factions to their respective stances has caused widespread frustration among the cadres. He claimed that if this dispute is not resolved in time, the Congress will lose its historical legacy and face an existential crisis. Ghimire noted that harboring the arrogance of 'I have won, now only I will prevail' is suicidal for anyone.

He said, 'If anyone tries to move forward harboring the arrogance that 'I have won, now only I will prevail,' it will be suicidal for the Congress. This internal strife within the party has a strong possibility of making us shrink and weaken further in the next election. After the court's decision, whoever takes the reins of leadership must show the magnanimity to accommodate all factions. We must move forward on the path of uniting the party; that is our compulsion.'

Although the Deuba faction has not officially made a formal decision to call a Central Committee meeting, pressure from leaders is mounting significantly. The demand to call a meeting of the old committee for election review has created a new polarization within the party. Currently, the attention of common Congress workers and well-wishers is fixed on the decisions taken by the top leaders and the potential verdict from the Supreme Court.