- Nepali Congress leaders are split over the 15th General Convention schedule, with Gagan Thapa pushing ahead despite opposition from Sher Bahadur Deuba’s camp.
- Purna Bahadur Khadka requested a postponement of ward-level gatherings to facilitate unity talks between Thapa and senior party leaders.
- While Thapa scheduled the central convention for October, the Deuba faction rejects its legitimacy and plans a separate gathering for December.
- Senior leader Shekhar Koirala urged factions to find a compromise, warning that competing convention processes could lead to a lasting organizational division.
Kathmandu, Nepal : A dispute over the Nepali Congress's 15th General Convention is widening, with party president Gagan Thapa pushing ahead with the convention schedule and former acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka asking him to put the process on hold and hold talks with former president Sher Bahadur Deuba and other senior leaders.
The disagreement has centered on how the party should resolve its internal differences before moving to the next general convention.
Thapa has been trying to bring leaders associated with the 14th General Convention into the convention process now being led by his team. At Thursday's Central Working Committee meeting, he called on Deuba and other senior leaders to join the same convention instead of organizing separate gatherings.
More than 30 leaders who were previously close to Deuba have moved toward the Thapa-led Central Working Committee after the party agreed to accommodate members elected under the 14th General Convention.
The change has brought some leaders who had opposed the special general convention into the current process. However, it has not settled the disagreement over the legitimacy of the structure created by that convention.
The Deuba camp has continued to reject decisions made by the Thapa-led leadership, arguing that the special general convention was not legitimate. It has been preparing its own convention, with the central gathering planned for December.
Khadka asks Thapa to stop the schedule
Khadka has taken a different position. In a statement issued Thursday, he asked Thapa to postpone the 15th General Convention, starting with the ward-level gatherings, and use the time to hold talks with Deuba and other senior leaders.
Khadka said the party still had a chance to remain united, but warned that continuing with separate convention processes could make an agreement harder to reach.
His position is different from simply opposing the convention. Khadka is calling for the party to settle its political differences first and then move ahead with the organizational process.
Khadka had earlier been associated with the Deuba camp but later moved toward the convention process led by Thapa after some of his demands were addressed. His latest statement suggests that his participation in that process has not ended his concerns about the wider dispute.
Thapa invites Deuba to convention
Thapa has also tried to bring Deuba into the upcoming convention in a different way. He has invited the former president to inaugurate the 15th General Convention.
Thapa has argued that the party statute does not allow Deuba to seek another term as president and that his participation in the convention would provide a dignified transition.
The invitation could bring Deuba into the convention without giving him a further claim to the presidency. Deuba's faction, however, continues to reject decisions made by the Thapa-led structure.
As a result, the invitation has not resolved the main disagreement over which organizational structure has the authority to conduct the convention.
Convention dates add to the dispute
The convention timetable has become a major point of contention.
The Thapa-led Congress has scheduled ward-level conventions for September 19 and 20. The process will be followed by other organizational conventions, with the central General Convention scheduled for October 2 to 5.
The Deuba side has been working on a separate timetable, with its central convention planned for December.
The difference in dates matters because the ward and other lower-level conventions will determine the party's organizational representatives and delegates. Once that process moves forward, bringing the two sides back into a single structure could become more difficult.
That is one reason Khadka is asking Thapa to pause the process before the ward conventions begin.
Shekhar Koirala calls for compromise
Senior leader Shekhar Koirala has also urged the party to avoid holding two separate conventions.
Koirala has said that competing convention processes could weaken the Nepali Congress and has called on the factions to find a practical compromise.
His position reflects concern among some leaders that the current disagreement could become a lasting organizational division if the two sides continue to operate separately.
Party says members will not be excluded
The Congress leadership has maintained that the party remains united and that members who meet the requirements for active membership will be allowed to take part in the convention process.
Party spokesperson Devraj Chalise has said that members who have renewed and updated their active membership will be allowed to participate and that no one is being excluded.
The dispute, however, continues over who has the authority to make organizational decisions and whether decisions taken after the special general convention should be recognized.
The Deuba faction's rejection of those decisions remains one of the main obstacles to bringing the two sides into the same convention process.
Leaders shift as factions seek support
The movement of more than 30 leaders from the Deuba camp toward the Thapa-led structure has changed the internal balance of the party.
Their participation gives the Thapa side greater representation from leaders who were previously associated with the 14th General Convention. At the same time, the changes have become part of the broader struggle between the two camps over support and control of the party organization.
The coming convention process will show how much support each side can maintain among party leaders and members.
Khadka raises wider concerns
Khadka has also warned that a division in the Nepali Congress could have consequences beyond the party.
He has said that a split could encourage similar divisions in other major political parties and could contribute to ethnic, regional and religious tensions.
Those are Khadka's concerns and predictions, rather than established outcomes. Whether such developments would occur remains uncertain.
For now, the immediate issue is whether the Congress can find common ground before the ward-level conventions begin.
Talks face a deadline
The September 19–20 ward conventions are now the next major point in the dispute.
If the Thapa-led process goes ahead without the Deuba faction, the two sides could become more deeply separated at the organizational level. If Thapa agrees to Khadka's request and postpones the schedule, the party would have more time for talks but would also have to revise a convention calendar that has already been announced.
Thapa is seeking to bring more leaders into the existing process and continue with the convention. Khadka wants the process stopped temporarily so that the party's senior leaders can first reach an agreement.
Both sides have spoken publicly about keeping the Congress together. The disagreement is over how to achieve that and which organizational structure should be used to take the party forward.
With the ward conventions only days away, the coming talks between the factions will determine whether the Congress can proceed toward a common convention or whether the two sides will continue with separate organizational processes.
