Breaking a 52-year association with former Congress general secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula, 72-year-old Sudhir Shiwakoti of Jhapa has become a central member of the party from the special general convention. He was not only a witness to Sitaula's political ups and downs, but also faced many challenges at the ground level to make Sitaula influential at the center.

When he was the district president for the first time, the fear of armed conflict was at its peak. It was very difficult to protect the cadres and save the party organization. When he was the president for the second term, the party split. The direct rule of the king began. Arrested during the reign of the then King Gyanendra Shah, he was subjected to extreme torture in custody.

For that, he got a ticket for the parliamentary election for the first time in 2064. However, he lost the election with the Maoists. In 2070, he won the election and became an MP for the first time. Apart from becoming an MP once, his political struggle has been spent bringing Sitaula to the forefront of politics. That 52-year-old strong relationship has gone both ways after the Gen-G movement.

Shiwakoti says that he separated after the Gen-G rebellion of 23 and 24 Bhadra was taken as nothing. Shiwakoti says that their 52-year journey together broke down because they did not try to understand the pace of time and the desires of the youth. 

‘In the meantime, we have never had a disagreement. There was no quarrel or anger. However, when Sitaulaji did not try to assimilate the message given by the Gen-G rebellion, we separated,' he said.

He said that after the Gen-G movement, he had reminded her many times not to follow Sher Bahadur Deuba. 'The party cannot be saved by following Sher Bahadurji. It will cause great damage. We cannot go to the elections with Sher Bahadurji's face. I requested many times that our workers from villages would throw stones at us, but we did not listen. He said to wait for two to four months,' says Shiwakoti, 'I came with the youth to the special general convention. From there, I told them that you are staying in the wrong house. The house that will save the party is the special general convention at Bhrikuti Mandap, come. I am sure you must have heard.'

If new consciousness and voices are not listened to, the traditional parties are now in danger of disappearing into history, said Shiwakoti. 'But why don't the leaders realize that their time has passed? Why don't they pay attention, I wonder.' Not only Shiwakoti, many leaders living in the Sitaula group have not been able to stay with him for long. Gagan Thapa, who was elected as the Congress President from the second special general convention, was in the Sitaula camp in the 13th general convention. He contested the election for the post of General Secretary from there. He lost then. 

Thapa later separated from Sitaula. Then  in the 14th general convention, Pradeep Poudel joined Sitaula and became the candidate for the post of General Secretary. He also lost.

Now Poudel has been elected as the General Secretary from the special general convention. Not only this, former National Assembly MP Dhana Khatiwada, former MP Taraman Gurung, and Uma Shiwakoti, who were in favor of Sitaula, have now become central members from the special general convention. Another young leader Baldev Timilsina has also left Sitaula and joined the Gagan-Bishwo team.

Thapa, who was elected as the president from the special general convention, has been a rebel leader since his student days. He has been rebelling both when the party was in power and in opposition. He raised the issue of roads and citizens and raised his voice against the establishment within the party. Thapa was the vice president when Bishwaprakash Sharma, who was elected as the vice president from the special general convention, was the president of the Nepali Sangh.

The political relationship between Thapa and Sharma deepened after the 14th general convention. When the party was not understanding the public sentiment, Sharma had raised the issue that Thapa should not only be the party leader, but also be promoted as the future Prime Minister. The Gagan-Bishwo duo, who rebelled by raising the agenda of party reforms after the Gen-G movement, have now instilled great hope and trust in the Congress.

Pushpa Bhusal became the second woman vice president in the history of the Congress. Earlier, Shailaja Acharya became the vice president. Bhusal was previously in the Khum Bahadur Khadka group. After that, she went to the establishment side of the Deuba-led party.

She has been in the Gagan-Bishwa team since the Gen-G movement. During the establishment, she was active in the campaign to hold a general convention even before the 21 Falgun elections. Along with her, 30 central members of the establishment were involved in this campaign. However, about 25 central members went to the special general convention at Bhrikutimandap.

Guru Ghimire was the president of the Nepali Sangh when Gagan was the general secretary. In 2059, Ghimire was repeatedly charged with sedition for speaking against the monarchy when he was the president and Gagan was the general secretary. Coincidentally, Thapa is now the party president and Ghimire is the general secretary. When the Koirala family's politics could not come to the fore, Ghimire became the general secretary from the special general convention.

Ghimire was previously close to Shekhar Koirala. Shekhar also had support in the signatures to call the special general convention. However, after Shekhar joined the establishment, leaving the agenda he supported and joining the establishment, Ghimire joined the Gagan-Bishwa team. Devraj Chalise, who was previously in Shekhar's favor, has become the party's spokesperson. Chalise is also an activist of the signature campaign. Chalise, who is also the president of the Tribhuvan University Student Union, has suddenly emerged in central politics with the issue of change.

After Gagan and Biswa, another face of the Congress is Pradeep Poudel. Poudel, who was nominated from the Sitaula group in the 14th general convention, was a candidate for the post of general secretary from the panel with Sher Bahadur Deuba. Poudel was defeated when Thapa and Sharma won the general secretary post.

After that, he left the Sitaula group and joined Gagan. Dila Sangraula Panta, who was a joint general secretary for women in the Thapa-led team, was also on the side of the then establishment. With the changing times, she moved forward with the issue of leadership change. Bahadur Singh Lama, who was also the then Chief Minister of Bagmati, was once considered an insider of Deuba. The same Lama now stands in favor of leadership change. He has become the joint general secretary from the cluster towards the indigenous peoples from the special general convention.

Udaya Shamsher Rana, who became the joint general secretary from the Khas Arya cluster, was also a confidant of Deuba. However, he has also joined the Gagan-Bishwa team, saying that the political situation has changed after the Gen-G movement. Another joint general secretary from the Tharu cluster, Yogendra Chaudhary, was a strong pillar of the establishment faction. He had previously been a long-standing associate with Vijay Kumar Gachhadar. After the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Democratic) led by Gachhadar merged with the Nepali Congress before the 2074 elections, he became close to Deuba. Chaudhary from Dang was adamant that a general convention should be held before the 21 Falgun elections within the establishment faction.

Farmullah Mansur, who had a long-standing association with the Koirala family in politics, was also the party's joint general secretary before that. Mansur joined Deuba after the death of the then president Sushil Koirala. Mansur, who was elected joint general secretary from the Muslim cluster, also changed his mind after the Bhadra 23/24 incident.

For the first time in the Central Working Committee, he distanced himself from the old establishment, arguing that the future Prime Minister and party leadership should be handed over to Thapa. Dolpa leader Karna Bahadur Budha has become the joint general secretary from the backward cluster. He joined the Congress from the RPP in 2076. Budha, who was the joint general secretary in the RPP, has not been able to win the House of Representatives election.

Former vice president Gopalman Shrestha, who came to the special general convention, was a former leader of Deuba's core group. After the Gen-G movement, Purna Bahadur Khadka had become active in politics again and started exercising power. He is now a central member.

Similarly, Chinakaji Shrestha, Bharat Shah, Surendra Prasad Chaudhary, Amrit Aryal, Dhruv Wagle, Binod Chaudhary, Mohan Acharya, Devprasad Timilsina, Jayaram Lamichhane, all of whom are in favor of the establishment, have now become central members of the party from the special general convention Bhrikutimandap.