After a month and a half of wrangling, the schedule for the Congress general convention has been made public. The Central Working Committee meeting on Monday decided to hold the convention from December 26-28.

With the release of the general convention schedule, speculations about possible equations within the party and the activity of aspirants have started increasing. Posters of acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka, general secretary Gagan Thapa and leader Shekhar Koirala have started appearing on social media. Apart from these three leaders, a group of former office bearers from within the establishment party is also going to enter the competition. The leaders of this group have said that there is a possibility of putting forward one of the leaders of this group Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Bimalendra Nidhi, Shashank Koirala and Prakasharan Mahat.

Sitaula said that he will put forward a candidate from his group only after the conclusion of the provincial working committee session. ‘We are sure to enter the competition. We will compete even harder than in the past,’ he said. President Sher Bahadur Deuba is leaving the upcoming 15th general convention after completing two terms. The constitution has made a provision not to allow a leader to serve more than two terms.

Deuba has not yet nominated anyone as his successor. It is being watched with interest whether he supports acting president Khadka or nominates any other leader. Leaders close to him estimate that Deuba will be able to make decisions keeping his political security and interests at the center. ‘But the previous traditional factions will no longer exist.’ An official from the establishment side said, ‘Until the general convention is assured, it is still too early to speculate on the equation.’

The Congress, which has been embroiled in a dispute over whether to hold a general convention before the elections for one and a half months, has broken its deadlock after unanimously passing the schedule of conventions at all seven levels, including the center, on Monday. On one hand, there is doubt that the convention will be held within a short time, while on the other hand, the demand for a special general convention has not been withdrawn. The general secretaries have said that the process of the special general convention will be activated as soon as there are regular obstacles.

If the central general convention is not held within 26-28 Poush, the special general convention will be automatically activated: Gagan Thapa, General Secretary General Secretary Gagan Thapa said that if the general convention is not ensured as per the specified date, the special general convention will be activated automatically. He says that there is no need to wait for 26 Poush for that. The convention is scheduled to start on the 16th after finalizing the active membership within 14 Poush. 'We fully support holding the general convention within the schedule decided today.' However, the agenda cannot nullify the demand for a special general convention, it can only be done after the convention is completed,' Thapa said. 'We have also clearly told the party president that if any intention or reason is shown to disrupt the convention, a special general convention will be held.'

Thapa has also 'recorded' this idea in the records of the party's Central Working Committee after the meeting. He had sought permission from acting president Khadka to express his views on the matter in the meeting. However, after Khadka requested to give it in writing instead of at the meeting, Thapa ‘recorded’ his views on the situation of activating the special general convention.

The long-standing deadlock within the Congress ended after Deuba himself actively persuaded former office bearers who were not in favor of the general convention before the election. After pressure from the general secretaries and signatory representatives for a special general convention, Deuba reached the point of holding a regular general convention before the election. The former office bearers were dissatisfied with Deuba after he himself proposed to bring a schedule to regularize it before the election to avoid the special general convention. However, after Deuba held talks with Nidhi and Sitaula on Monday morning, they also arrived at the pre-election schedule.

Nidhi said that he had agreed to the agenda before the election by trusting party president Deuba. ‘I am leaving, he requested that there should be no disagreement within the party when I leave.’ We have supported him by trusting in his initiative, interest and trust,’ Nidhi said, ‘In the competition within the party, we are in one place.’ There is no doubt that there will be competition from this group.’

Sitaula did not want to comment on Deuba’s role. ‘The acting president presented that the central office bearers had unanimously brought the proposal.’ We also supported it when the proposal of consensus was mentioned,’ Sitaula said. However, Sitaula said that there is a challenge in holding the convention on the agenda decided by the central working committee. ‘The schedule for distribution of membership, renewal, from ward level to central convention that has been passed today, we have to see how the secretariat will implement it,’ he said, ‘Let’s not doubt it now. But, our opinion will come only after seeing how it is implemented.’

General Secretary Thapa had presented the schedule for 27-29 Mangsir in the Central Working Committee meeting on 17 Asoj. Since the establishment side was not ready for it, he could not formally take it to the Central Working Committee meeting. For the second time, on 31 Asoj, he brought the same schedule to the Working Committee itself. However, after the majority of the establishment side rejected it, the schedule could not be formally presented in the meeting.

In the meantime, leaving aside all national issues, the Congress was caught in the vortex of controversy over whether to hold the general convention before or after the elections. The agenda was made possible after Deuba himself took the initiative to untie the knot of this dispute, thinking that his withdrawal from the special general convention would send a negative message. ‘The general secretaries were not swayed by the agenda of the special general convention.’ On the other hand, 29 influential central members within the establishment party stood in favor of holding the general convention before the election.’ Another leader from the establishment party said, ‘Deuba has come out in favor of holding the general convention before the election to avoid the special general convention so that his exit would be honorable.’

However, leaders in favor of the special general convention have responded that the decision to come up with an agenda to conclude the general convention by mid-Poush and, on the other hand, extend the term of the central working committee until mid-Magh has created doubts. The four-year term of the central working committee is ending in mid-Mansir. The meeting has decided to extend the term until mid-Magh along with the agenda of the general convention.

‘If the general convention is to be held on 26-28 Poush, why was the term extended until mid-Magh? This term has been extended so that the current leadership and the Central Working Committee prepare the list for the proportional representation of the House of Representatives and select the candidates for the National Assembly.’ Subash Pokharel, a leader in favor of the special general convention, said, ‘This does not guarantee that the general convention will be held on the specified date. The relevance of the special general convention has increased even more.’

The group in favor of the special general convention has stated in a statement that the agenda of the general convention is prima facie impractical and unscientific. ‘We do not have the convenience of ample time.’ Nor is there any moral or legal basis for moving the announced date,' the statement said, 'Therefore, we would like to clarify that if the series of conventions is disrupted under any pretext or situation, the proposal for a special general convention registered on 29 Asoj is still alive and fully implementable as per the statute.'

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