Kathmand, Nov 4: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has instructed party leaders not to hold a special general convention. Earlier, 2,488 delegates had submitted a signed letter to Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka demanding a special congress. Deuba, however, has directed the leaders to create an environment for a regular congress instead, without implementing the letter.

Last Sunday, the Central Working Committee meeting was postponed after disagreements over the timing of a regular congress. Following that, in an informal meeting of the party’s establishment leaders, Deuba instructed from Singapore not to hold a special congress and to focus on preparing for a regular congress, Acting President Khadka confirmed. A leader present at the meeting said, “Acting President Khadka conveyed that President Deuba directed not to hold a special congress and suggested we work toward consensus on a regular congress.”

Deuba is currently undergoing treatment in Singapore. He had traveled there on October 26, 2025, with his wife Dr. Arju Rana Deuba after being severely beaten at their Budhanilkantha residence on September 9, 2025, during the Gen Z protests. The couple received nearly a month of treatment at a military hospital in Chhauni.

Deuba was first publicly seen after the attack on October 14, 2025, at the party office in Sanepa, where he submitted a written statement to the meeting and handed over responsibilities to Acting President Khadka. Since then, the Central Committee meetings have been presided over by Khadka. Disputes continue over whether to hold a regular or special congress.

In this situation, while leaders remained indecisive, Deuba instructed from Singapore to skip the special congress and agree on a date for the regular congress.

Even the timing of the regular congress is contested. The establishment faction proposes holding it in mid-April 2026 following the House of Representatives election scheduled for February 4, 2026. On Monday, a meeting of central members of the establishment faction decided to hold the 15th general convention from April 8 to 11, 2026. Meanwhile, the other faction, led by Dr. Shekhar Koirala with General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwprakash Sharma, insists the regular congress should be held in mid-December 2025.

With no agreement between the two factions, General Secretary Sharma has proposed holding the regular congress from January 1 to 4, 2026, but consensus has yet to be reached.

People’s News Monitoring Service