A group including two general ministers of the Congress, Gagan Thapa and Vishwaprakash Sharma, is in favor of a special convention with the conclusion that the party's policy and leadership should be changed immediately. The founding party has opposed it.
Disagreement has increased within the Congress on whether to immediately address the demands for change raised by the Gen-G movement or to run the party as it is. A group including two general ministers of the Congress, Gagan Thapa and Vishwaprakash Sharma, has come together in favor of a special convention with the conclusion that the party's policy and leadership should be changed immediately. The founding party has opposed it.
In the Congress, there is a provision that the Central Working Committee can call a special convention in extreme circumstances. On the other hand, there is also a provision in the statute that if a petition is submitted with the signatures of 40 percent of the representatives of the central convention, the chairman must call a special convention within three months.
After the establishment aspect was not positive for both of them, the leaders of General Minister Thapa and Sharma Khema are preparing for the signature campaign of the representatives. According to Gururaj Ghimire, the leader of the other parties in the establishment, the signature campaign of the representatives will be formally started on Monday to convene a special convention immediately.
'There cannot be a regular congress next November. There are still a lot of procedures left for the regular convention," said Ghimire. Why did this happen? Why did it come? Hasn't this situation come about because of the policies and steps we have taken? There are questions of corruption, corruption and mismanagement of leadership today. It is not from the executive body to discuss these matters. A special convention is required. For that, it is better to call the central working committee itself, otherwise we will submit a petition with the signature of 40 percent.'
The founding party is dissatisfied with the leadership role being taken by General Minister Thapa and Sharma in calling the special convention. Five ex-officers who stayed at Chaksbari residence of leader Prakashman Singh on Monday concluded that a special or regular convention is not possible within November. Former office bearers of Congress, Vimalendra Nidhi, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Shashank Koirala, Prakashman Singh and Prakasharan Mahat were present in the meeting. Mahat, who is also the spokesperson of the
party, said that it is not right to raise the issue of a special convention when the chairman is undergoing treatment.
We are also not in favor of not reforming the party. However, it is not good to talk about calling a special convention before the president who is undergoing treatment has returned, it is not good to say that the leadership should be removed now," said Mahat. "We can discuss how to proceed from the meeting of the central working committee after the president returns." Congress leaders said that the party chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife Arju Rana Deuba, who were injured in an attack by protesters on August 24, are undergoing treatment at the military hospital in the cantonment.
However, General Minister Thapa and Sharma have been insisting on the need to change the policy and leadership of the party to address the sentiments of the youth within the Congress. Mahamantri Thapa has given a message of intervention for policy and leadership through a video last Saturday.
"There has been so much upheaval, can we sustain the party as it is, it is not possible," Thapa said, "We have always raised the right things, but left in the middle, this is our weakness." This time we will not leave.' He said that if there is no reorganization of the party, it will not be possible to address the feelings expressed in the movement and the expectations of the youth.
Thapa has said that since there was a special convention in 2014, the policy and leadership of the party can be changed through the special convention. The working committee led by Suvarnashamsher Rana elected in 2012 decided to hold a special convention. Suvarnaji resigned and paved the way and BP Koirala became the chairman in 2014. The same leadership made the Congress a party with a two-thirds majority. Today, such an opportunity has come again," said Thapa.
If the leadership wants to renew the old active memberships, open new memberships for two months, suspend the articles of the constitution and hold a central convention directly, they have presented an option to go to the regular convention. If not, he has the option of going to the special convention as a voter representative of the 14th convention.
Youth leaders have tried to add leader Shekhar Koirala and Mahamantri Thapa to the agenda of the special convention. According to leader Ghimire, even Koirala is in favor of convening a special convention through the central working committee. Joint Chief Minister Jeevan Pariyar also said that there is no difference of opinion between Koirala and Thapa on the agenda. "There is no difference of opinion between the Chief Minister and Shekhar Dai that the party's policy, program and leadership should be selected by calling a special convention, it is the agenda of all of us," said Pariyar.
Central member Nainsingh Mahar says that instead of going to a special convention and drawing division within the party, it should go to the regular convention three months later. He is of the opinion that since the tenure of all office bearers and central members including the current chairman will end from next November, a regular convention can be held on the same date.
