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Kathmandu, Nov 21: The Nepali Congress has scheduled its Central Committee meeting for Saturday. The meeting, originally called for Thursday at 2 pm, has been postponed to 1 pm on Saturday.

According to sources, the rescheduling followed a discussion on Wednesday evening between acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka and General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa.

If consensus is reached on the party’s 15th General Convention by Saturday morning, the ongoing meeting, which began on October 14, will conclude the same day. If leaders fail to agree on the convention, the meeting will decide on the party’s registration for the National Assembly election. Decisions on registration for the House of Representatives election will also be made.

The Election Commission has set deadlines for party registration: December 21 for the National Assembly election scheduled for January 24, and December 11 for the House of Representatives election on February 21.

Since the changes after September 24, the party has debated how to move forward. The Central Committee has been discussing whether the 15th General Convention should be held before or after the February 21 election, or as a special convention. Lack of agreement has repeatedly delayed the meeting for a week.

Leaders from the party’s establishment faction insist the convention be held in April, based on the February 21 election. Meanwhile, leaders, including Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwprakash Sharma, support holding either a regular or special convention immediately. Leaders like Shekhar Koirala favor a regular convention at the end of December, which could also address the special convention supporters. Koirala has been holding discussions with various leaders and will conduct a group discussion with close leaders on Friday.

Acting President Khadka, under pressure from multiple sides, insists that whether the convention is regular or special, and held before or after the election, it must be done by consensus. This ongoing debate has affected the Central Committee meetings. The latest postponement followed discussions between Khadka and Thapa.

People’s News Monitoring Service