The Congress is on the verge of division after efforts to reach a consensus late Tuesday night failed to reach a conclusion. The dialogue has broken down after President Sher Bahadur Deuba was not ready for a leadership change, as advocated by the special general convention. General secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma have already started their homework to select a new leadership from the special general convention.

The leaders in favor of the establishment and the special general convention had been in continuous dialogue for two days to reach an agreement. On Tuesday, the establishment side appeared ready to take ownership of the special general convention from the central working committee and implement the policy and party reform proposals passed by the hall.

The election schedule for the special general convention was pushed back to seek a consensus on the issue of leadership change. The central working committee called by the establishment side for Tuesday was also postponed to 8 am on Wednesday.

In Tuesday's talks, leaders Balkrishna Khand and Ramesh Lekhak, who participated in the establishment side's talks, said that there was no problem in accepting ownership of the special general convention and implementing the policy and party reform proposals passed by it. 'The 15th general convention is being held in Baisakh. Let's not talk about changing the leadership in the middle of three months. This does not respect the president. He himself has already said that he will not be there again, but will leave,' the writer had said during the talks, 'we can reach an understanding on other issues.'

The leaders in favor of the special general convention had mentioned that leadership was the main issue and put forward three options - first, to elect a new central working committee from the special general convention itself, second, the president should resign and hold elections only under the leadership, and third, to make an interim president with the person the establishment party wants.

Since the establishment was not ready in all these options, the option of forming a 'high command' was put forward, said the leader in favor of the special general convention, Gururaj Ghimire. According to him, the option of running the party through a 'high command' including the acting president, general secretaries and the main competing leaders of the 14th general convention was put forward.

The leaders in favor of the special general convention had also said that the parliamentary board to distribute tickets for the House of Representatives elections should also be formed on the basis of consensus. Unable to make a decision on the leadership issue themselves, Khand and Lekhak left the meeting at 6 pm in the middle of the meeting to consult with President Deuba. After that, Khand and Lekhak did not return to the meeting after consulting with Deuba and the establishment leaders. They were heading home from there. Lekhak left Deuba's residence saying, "Now, if things are resolved at the general secretaries' level, then it will be resolved, because we cannot reach an agreement at our level."

The leaders supporting the special general convention waited until 9 pm at the house of a Congress worker in Chakrapath. The entire day's talks were held at that house.

When the leaders of the establishment party did not come even by 9 pm, the leaders supporting the special general convention spoke to Lekhak on the telephone. During that meeting, he informed that an agreement could not be reached on the issue of removing the current leadership, not being allowed to contest the elections, and sending the name and signature of the acting leader to the Election Commission.

According to a leader of the establishment party, Deuba expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the special general convention supporters had brought the proposal to insult him. ‘At the beginning of the talks, Chairman Deuba sent a message saying that they were looking for tickets, and that they should agree to allocate 40 percent of the tickets. We said that tickets are not our priority and that we should not even mention the issue of division,’ said a leader of the special general convention supporters.

If some miracle happens by Wednesday morning, the party unity will move forward, otherwise a new leadership will be selected from the special general convention, said Gururaj Ghimire, a leader of the special general convention supporters. ‘We said that we should change the leadership, but they (the establishment) did not agree. We also presented alternatives. After that, they went to the chairman and did not return,’ he said.

Pradeep Poudel, Gururaj Ghimire, Devraj Chalise and Madhu Acharya from the special general convention supporters, and Minendra Rijal and Jeevan Pariyar from the Shekhar Koirala side participated in Tuesday's talks. After the talks between them failed, it was said that a discussion would be held between acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka and general secretaries Thapa and Sharma, but that did not happen either. 

After the agreement was not reached, the leaders supporting the special general convention have started their homework, including making whom to appoint as office bearers and assigning the responsibility of the respective 'clusters' for central members. The nomination of candidates has been scheduled for Wednesday from 8:15 am to 9:15 am. Initially, the schedule was brought to register nomination papers from 2 pm to 3 pm on Tuesday and start voting at 9 pm.

The establishment side had called a central working committee meeting for Tuesday at 11 am. Since the talks were ongoing, the meeting was briefly postponed to Wednesday for formalities. A leader of the establishment party said that the meeting was called to take ownership of the agreement if it is reached and take action against the leader who will take the election process forward in the special general convention if it is not.

There are leaders in favor of the special general convention who are in the position that the House of Representatives elections cannot be held with the leadership continuing. On the other hand, the establishment party is arguing that the president, who has a long history in the fight for democracy, should not be insulted by removing him midway. 'We are also well-wishers of the president, not enemies. What difference does it make if he leaves three months before or after? It is up to them (the establishment party) to decide. It may not make much difference in the life of the individual. But it makes a big difference in the life of the party. It directly affects the elections. Therefore, our argument is that the life of the party should not be ruined,' said leader Chalise.

Chalise said that unity within the Congress will be maintained if an agreement is reached on whether all the authority will be under the leadership of the acting president or given to the high command and the acting president will sign the ticket distribution. "Our point is that the president should declare that he will not contest the election and remain rhetorical from all perspectives," he said on Tuesday evening. "The establishment party is not agreeing to that. If there is no agreement, the course of the special general convention will move forward." General Secretary Gagan Thapa has said that only the agreement accepted by the hall of the special general convention will be acceptable. "Whatever agreement is reached in the talks, the hall must approve it. Whether I do it or another general secretary does it, only the agreement accepted by the hall is acceptable," Thapa told reporters after Tuesday's closed session. "If there is no agreement, the special general convention will end by electing a new central working committee tomorrow afternoon. This is not a child's play. Let's amend the statute from this, pass the report. If any agreement is reached, it will be up to us to take ownership of it. Whether it reaches that point or not is an important matter."

The party leadership ignored the petition signed by 54 percent of the general convention delegates on 29 Ashoja demanding a special general convention, and General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma called for a special general convention. There is a provision in the Congress statute to call a special general convention if 40 percent of the delegates demand it. Before the petition for a special general convention was submitted, President Deuba had given the responsibility of acting president to Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka in the central working committee meeting the day before. Immediately after that, Deuba, who had gone to Singapore for treatment, returned and started being active in political meetings, election ticket distribution and internal politics of the party. 

Revised statute passed

The closed session of the statute convention unanimously passed the report of the General Secretaries and the proposal for the revised statute. The provision for selecting candidates at all levels through 'primary elections' has been ensured by the amendment to the statute. A new system has been introduced to select candidates not from the current party structure but from active members of the relevant level and area through direct voting (primary elections).  A policy has been passed to allow people who have contributed to the party for a long time in the intellectual and professional fields to enter the party (lateral entry) and make them candidates. The provision that a person will get only one opportunity in proportional representation has been included in the statute. When making a candidate from a party, a person has been limited to one time as president, two times as prime minister, three times as minister, and four times as member of parliament through the direct election system. 

A provision has been made that party presidents and other office bearers and members should now come as convention representatives from their wards. Earlier, office bearers and members of the central working committee used to automatically be convention representatives. 

A provision has also been made in the statute to ensure a total of 20 percent representation in each working committee of the party, including 10 people under the age of 30 and 10 people who have completed 30 years but not exceeded 40 years. 

At the closing ceremony of the closed session, General Secretary Thapa said that they had rebelled by holding a special general convention. He said that questioning the party's internal democracy was a rebellion in itself. 'This is a rebellion. Questioning is a rebellion in itself. Maintaining silence is like embracing death,' he said.

Thapa said that he did not organize a special general convention because he wanted a position. 'We did not ask questions or organize them because we were eager to become something,' he said. He mentioned that it was necessary to change the Congress because gang factions had formed within the Congress. 'The need now is for party equality, for the country and for the common people living in the villages outside,' he said.

General Secretary Thapa stated that he did not follow the rumors outside and urged the delegates not to follow them either. He said, 'There are many rumors circulating outside now. Some have said for tickets, some for share distribution, but I am not following the rumors. You too should not do it. We only accept the approval given by the hall, not from outside. We do not need Bishwaprakash and Gagan as presidents from the special general convention, we need a change in policy and leadership.' Thapa also said that if the talks do not end in agreement, the hall will select a new leadership.