The 25 central members of the establishment party are demanding a regular general convention schedule before the elections.
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The Congress establishment has maintained its stance of not holding any kind of party convention before the elections.
The 25 central members who are in favor of the establishment had drawn the attention of Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka on Friday to bring the 15th general convention schedule before the election. They were not present at the establishment-oriented gathering organized by seven former office bearers on Saturday.
Joint General Secretary Mahendra Yadav said that they were not in favor of any general convention before the election and that was the main conclusion of the gathering. He said that the meeting of the Central Working Committee to be held on Mangsir 15 had decided to draw the attention of Acting President Khadka to move forward the election programs and candidate selection process, not the party's general convention.
'Since holding a general convention before the election will cause great damage to the Congress, we have concluded that the Central Working Committee should now move forward only election-related programs.' For that, there has been talk of forming a parliamentary board to select candidates, recommending a list of candidates from the constituency, etc., to bring an election program,' he said, 'If we are going to go to the elections, we should not hold any kind of general convention before that.'
Although all the office bearers and central members have expressed their views in the meeting of the Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress that began on October 28, no decision has been made from the meeting due to lack of understanding on the issue of the general convention. The Nepali Congress has not even formally decided to go to the elections. While the decision to go to the elections is not being made formally, a faction within the party has also put forward the agenda of restoring the House of Representatives.
General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma, on the other hand, are already busy with the homework of the special general convention. Thapa had proposed a special general convention on November 27-28 in the Central Working Committee meeting on Thursday after the establishment side was not ready to hold a general convention before the elections. The term of the current Central Working Committee will also end on November 27. General Secretary Thapa has also been taking a stand not to propose an extension of the term without holding a general convention.
Acting President Khadka has adjourned the meeting for three days and discussed with the general secretaries and leaders of the establishment party to reach an agreement on the dispute over whether to hold the general convention before or after the elections. Some leaders of the establishment party have also started consulting with President Sher Bahadur Deuba regarding the general convention.
Acting President Khadka has been criticized by both sides for not being able to make a decision. After they started criticizing Khadka, questioning his decision-making ability, Khadka took to social media on Saturday morning and said that he had delayed the decision-making process rather than regretting it by making a hasty decision. "Although it took some time to make a decision considering the adverse situation faced by the country and the party in history, instead of making a hasty decision and regretting it later, it is time to take an appropriate decision for the party so that the Congress can once again take the lead in solving the problem as in the past by acknowledging our past mistakes and weaknesses and apologizing to the people," he wrote. "I would like to request all friends to be united and understand this essence and be patient."
