Four lines have begun to appear within the establishment party in the dispute over the Congress general convention. A group of former office bearers has not been seen in favor of any general convention before the elections. They are also adamant that they will reject the demand for a special general convention signed by 54 percent of the general convention delegates from the majority of the Central Working Committee and will pass the proposal put forward by Joint General Secretary Mahendra Yadav to hold the general convention after the 21 Falgun elections.

 In the counter to the Poush 16-19 schedule presented by General Secretary Gagan Thapa in the Kartik 19 meeting, Joint General Secretary Yadav had proposed a proposal for Baisakh 27-29 on behalf of seven former office bearers. They insist that the proposal to hold a general convention before the election should be passed by a majority and the General Secretary should reject it. The group of the establishment party decided not to change its stance in the meeting held on Saturday morning.

Within the establishment party, central member Ramesh Lekhak has proposed to bring a regular general convention schedule within Poush as an alternative to a special general convention and move the process forward. Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka is also in favor of this middle-of-the-road proposal by the writer. The writer is trying to bring a regular general convention schedule before the election within a month after consulting with President Sher Bahadur Deuba. However, his effort has not been able to move forward because the seven former office bearers and other leaders who support them in the central working committee did not agree.

7 Former office bearers in the ‘Chakravyuh’ Another leader Bal Krishna Khand and a group of central member Gyanendra Bahadur Karki are active in favor of bringing some middle-of-the-road alternative to prevent a special general convention from being held. Karki had put forward the option of holding a special general convention without leadership and focusing on policy in the central working committee meeting. General Secretary Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, along with the signatories, are not ready to hold a special general convention without leadership elections and focusing only on policy. They have been saying that since the demand for a special general convention has been signed by 54 percent of the representatives, it cannot be completely rejected. The line of Khand and Karki’s group is similar to the proposal put forward by the author.

They are also proposing to start the process of the general convention by bringing a pre-election agenda, if there is an election, it will be postponed after the central general convention, and if there is no election, they will reach an understanding to hold the general convention around Magh-Phalgun.

No regular or special general convention will be held before the election

• Bring the schedule of the regular general convention by mid-Poush
• Make the special one a policy general convention
• Organize the 15th general convention within the time specified by the statute
• Opposing the establishment party's stance that no current general convention should be held before the election, another 25 central members of the establishment party have met Acting President Khadka collectively and put pressure on him to hold the general convention within the time provided by the statute. They have demanded that the party's 15th general convention be held within the month of Mangsir without holding a special one.

Among those making such demands are central members Rajendra Kumar KC, Bharat Bahadur Shah, Arjun Prasad Joshi, Pushpa Bhusal, Karna Bahadur Budha, Ganesh Lama, Angelu Sherpa, Dila Sangraula, Uday Shamsher Rana, Nanu Bastola, Dhana Khatiwada, Abdul Razzaq, Devendra Raj Kadel, Yogendra Chaudhary, Gopal Dahit, Bahadur Singh Lama, Dilman Pakhrin, Abdul Sattar, Mohan Acharya, Amrit Aryal, Jeep Tshiring Lama, Ramjanam Chaudhary, Champadevi Khadka, Narayan Bahadur Karki. They say that the Central Working Committee should make a schedule to start the 15th General Convention and conclude the convention in a tiered manner.

After President Sher Bahadur Deuba gave the responsibility of acting to Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka on Asoj 28, the dispute within the Congress has taken a more complicated turn as various opinions started to emerge within the establishment party. President Deuba, who returned from Singapore on Friday, has been active since Sunday in resolving the dispute over the general convention. He met with Congress leader Shekhar Koirala on Sunday morning. Both Deuba and Koirala are in favor of bringing the agenda of the regular general convention rather than the special general convention.

Koirala informed President Deuba that if the regular general convention is not held by mid-December, he will be legally forced to call a special general convention, said central member Govinda Pokharel, close to him. 'If the regular general convention is not held, the special general convention must be called by December 28 as per the statute. If time allows, the Central Working Committee should take a special decision on its own,' Pokharel said. 'If the call is made on the basis of 54 percent of the signatories, there would be two groups. If the Central Working Committee calls it itself, the entire party will take ownership. The main thing is that this does not lead to a party split.'

Deuba has started meeting and talking to leaders in this line, including seven former office bearers who are in favor of not holding any general convention before the election. 'Among the seven former office bearers, there is concern that Gagan Thapa could take over the leadership if Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Bimalendra Nidhi are immediately called to a regular or special general convention. It seems that Thapa does not want to hold a general convention immediately because he will have to retire if he takes over the leadership,' said a central member of the establishment party.

The most conservative leader, Sitaula, has been opposing this. 'We have no worries. The office bearers are the leadership of the party. We have accepted it and remained as central members,' he said, 'There is nothing that will put us on the sidelines or make it difficult for the youth to accept the leadership. The main thing is that the election is not damaged.'