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By Our Reporter

When the establishment faction in the Nepali Congress did not agree with a few provisions included in the reports of the two general secretaries submitted in the party’s general committee (Mahasamiti) meeting held in February this year, the party has rescheduled its central committee meeting for September 1 and 2. Earlier, the party was to finalaise the reports on Wednesday (August 28). But when general secretaries Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma did not agree to omit or amend the provisions they have included in their reports, party president Sher Bahadur Deuba held a meeting with the two general secretaries and two vice presidents on Tuesday on the reports. But the meeting failed to reach a consensus prompting Deuba to postpone Wednesday’s central committee meeting for September 1. Instead, he called a meeting of the general secretaries and other office bearers for Thursday to discuss the reports and find a middle point to reach a consensus.

Thapa has proposed that NC will fight any election on its own without forging a pre-election alliance and the 15th general convention of the party should be held in 2025.  The establishment faction has opposed these provisions citing that it was not necessary to include the provision to not forge pre-election alliance while party president Deuba does not want to hold the general convention within 2025 and wants to extend the term of the current central committee at least by six months to meet his personal interests.

According to the agreement reached between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Deuba, Oli will hand over the government leadership to Deuba only in July 2026, and if the general convention is held before that he could not become the PM, because NC statute prevents one leader from becoming party president for more than two terms, and Deuba’s is completing his second term as party president in 2025.  Also, he is not sure that the new party president will his favourite person. When he is not party president, he will not find it easy to become prime minister. When Deuba enjoys a comfortable majority in the present central committee, he will lose it in the next. Thus, Deuba and his men are opposing the report, which will otherwise inject a new lease of life to the oldest party of Nepal.

Likewise, another general secretary, Sharma has proposed an exit policy according to which one NC leader could become President only once, Prime Minister only twice, minister only thrice and lawmaker only for a fourth term.

If Sharma’s exit policy is passed, Deuba cannot become Prime Minister again.

It is said that the party establishment has opposed Thapa’s proposal to not forge pre-election alliance and Sharma’s exit policy.

However, Deuba cannot move forward by outright rejecting the proposals of the general secretaries because by doing so a bad message will reach public while it will also invite confrontation in the party when he is trying to become the PM for a record sixth time in two years. Therefore, he is trying to reach a consensus, which does not look easy.