The delay in the selection of the parliamentary party leader has been due to the prolonged internal dispute within the Congress. The winter session of the parliament is starting from Thursday. Since the Congress has not selected the parliamentary party leader, there is confusion among the lawmakers about who will speak in the meeting on Thursday as the party.

On the other hand, the government has increased its interest in the appointment of vacant constitutional body officials. There is a constitutional provision that the leader of the main opposition party will also be a member of the Constitutional Council, which will be chaired by the Prime Minister in accordance with the principle of balance of power. The six-member council has a provision that the Speaker, the President of the National Assembly, the Chief Justice and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives will be other members.

Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut has been on compulsory retirement since Tuesday. The election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker has not been held yet. The main agenda of the upcoming parliament is the selection of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The internal dispute within the Congress that started immediately after the election has not yet subsided. The then acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka, from the then president Sher Bahadur Deuba group, has been conducting parallel activities in the party. Leader Shekhar Koirala and his party leaders are also now seen in the same group.

The conflict within the Congress is increasing as the old establishment faction does not accept the existence of the Central Working Committee that emerged from the special general convention. Congress leaders understand that this is why the process of selecting the leader of the parliamentary party has been affected.

General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire, however, says that there has been some delay in selecting the party leader due to the party's busy schedule for other organizational work. He informed that a meeting of the party's Central Working Committee has been called for next Saturday to move forward the process of selecting the party leader.

'The meeting will form an election committee, after which the process of selecting the party leader will move forward,' Ghimire said.

The establishment faction is hoping that the party leader should be selected unanimously as the party has become weak. However, the faction led by former President Sher Bahadur Deuba has indicated that they will select the party leader from their group. The name of then Joint General Secretary Bhishma Angdembe is in the news from the Deuba faction. An official said that since Angdembe is trying to show a moderate role in the dispute within the party, there may be a consensus in his name.

The names of Arjun Narsingh KC, Bharat Bahadur Khadka and Mohan Acharya are also in the news among the leaders in favor of the special general convention. Since there is a majority of young MPs in the parliament, there is even lobbying within the Congress to make young MP Nischal Rai the party leader rather than the old leaders.

Arjun Narsingh KC is the senior member not only in the Congress but also in the parliament. As the senior member, he will preside over the parliament until the election of the Speaker is completed. KC had expressed his desire to be the party leader some time ago. However, he said that he would not comment on internal party issues as he is currently responsible for presiding over the parliament.