By Our Reporter

The meeting of the Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress is now going on at its central office in Sanepa, and the leaders are deliberating their views.

NC leaders have heavily criticised the government and the decision of the leadership to form the present coalition government of NC and UML. They argued the government failed to deliver, and the ministers from the NC looked ineffective.

Likewise, the leaders close to Dr. Shekhar Koirala and general secretary Gagan Thapa demanded that the general convention of the party should be held within 2025. However, as the NC has not completed distributing active membership, holding the general convention this year looks quite impossible.

Instead, it looks likely that the NC will hold its convention only after the 2027 elections. Party president Sher Bahadur Deuba wants to postpone the general convention until the coming general elections, citing that a general convention held before elections could affect the poll results as the party leaders and cadres get divided in the convention. But Sekhar Koirala camp wants it election to be held on the scheduled time.

As Deuba cannot contest the election for the party president as he will be completing two terms as party president, he wants to delay it by using the provision to extend it by one and a half years. Even in the past, NC had not held its convention by the scheduled deadline. As such, the NC convention is likely to be held only in December 2027 or thereafter.

However, Deuba has clearly sent a message that he will retire from the party post. NC statute allows one leader to remain as party president only for two terms. Although Deuba enjoys a comfortable majority in the central committee and can amend the statute and pave the way to contest the election in the party. But he recently said in Chitwan that he will retire. By saying so, he also sent a message to K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who have changed the party statute in their favour so that they could lead their parties as long as they want. In this context, Deuba looks like an exception.