Gagan Thapa Attempts to Resolve Internal Party Dispute with New Proposal

Kathmandu. Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa has started efforts to resolve the internal party dispute. He has also proposed a framework for consensus to the Sher Bahadur Deuba group and Dr. Shekhar Koirala group, who are dissatisfied with the special general convention.

President Thapa proposed the consensus framework by meeting separately with the former acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka, who leads the Deuba group, and Dr. Shekhar Koirala, who leads the Shekhar group.

The dispute within the Nepali Congress, which emerged after the special general convention held in the last week of Poush, has not yet been resolved. 

The dispute in Congress, which reached the Election Commission and then the Supreme Court, arose after the special general convention, held under the leadership of former General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma with the permission of the then President, elected a new leadership, contradicting the central working committee elected from the 14th General Convention.

Although the Supreme Court recognized the committee led by President Gagan Thapa, who was elected president from the special general convention, the dispute within the party remains.

President Thapa has put forth a consensus proposal to the Sher Bahadur Deuba group and Dr. Shekhar Koirala group, who are dissatisfied with the special general convention, to resolve the internal party dispute.

President Thapa met Khadka alone on the evening of Baishakh 6 and again on Baishakh 23 at Khadka's residence in Golfutar, accompanied by Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma. 

Similarly, he met Dr. Shekhar Koirala at Koirala's secretariat in Bishalnagar on Baishakh 22.

The Deuba and Shekhar groups have rejected Gagan's proposal, insisting that all elected members from the 14th General Convention must be included and have a respectable participation.

According to leaders from the Deuba and Shekhar groups, President Thapa has presented two main proposals to the two leaders. The first proposal involves nominating 20 members from the Deuba group and 10 members from the Shekhar group to the central committee formed from the special general convention. 

The second proposal suggests adding one member each from both the Deuba and Shekhar groups to the already formed election committee and active membership management committee. President Thapa's proposal is to expand both committees, which currently have 3 members each, to 5 members each and assign them the mandate to make decisions based on consensus.

The central committee meeting held after the special general convention formed a 5-member election committee under the convenership of party central member Prem Bahadur Khadka, who is also a former president of the Nepal Bar Association; its members have not yet been nominated. Similarly, an active membership management committee has been formed under the convenership of General Secretary Pradip Paudel, with General Secretaries Yogendra Chaudhary and Prakash Snehi Rasaili as members.

Quoting Khadka, a leader said, 'President Thapa has proposed to include 20 members from our group and 10 from Shekhar ji's group in the central committee, and one member each in the membership management committee and election committee, with decisions made by consensus. However, I have stated that I cannot agree to this proposal.'

According to that leader, Khadka had proposed to move forward by including all members elected from the 14th General Convention in the committee to conduct the 15th General Convention. President Thapa had said he needed to consult further on this and left, and there has been no further information since then, the leader stated.

A leader from the Shekhar group also confirmed that the proposal was received but stated that it does not seem acceptable.

A 134-member central committee, including 13 office bearers, was formed from the special general convention held from Poush 27 to 30. President Thapa plans to expand it to 164 members by adding 30 people. However, both groups that opposed the special general convention have not accepted his proposal. They are insisting on respectable participation.

A few days ago, General Secretary Pradip Paudel had stated in a conversation with RatoPati that a joint mechanism could be formed for the convention-focused structure.

'The practice of including individuals in vacant responsibilities within the central committee and involving everyone in convention-focused sub-committees has been ongoing since the past,' Paudel had said. 'Different opinions, factions, and ideological groups exist in the party. The effort is to move forward by including everyone, just as the former and previous presidents used to do.'