Former Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba's faction has made preparations to hold the party's 15th general convention in parallel. After the unity efforts with the establishment faction failed to reach a conclusion, the Deuba faction is busy forming an organizing committee to hold a separate general convention.

Since Deuba is abroad, his faction is being led by former acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka. The Deuba group has held separate gatherings in Koshi and Bagmati provinces on Tuesday and Wednesday. Leaders have said that separate general convention organizing committees will be formed after gatherings in five other provinces and a date will be fixed after consultation.

For the provincial-level gathering, Krishna Prasad Sitaula in Koshi, Anand Dhungana in Madhesh, Prakashman Singh and Prakasharan Mahat in Bagmati, Kishore Singh Rathore in Lumbini, Mekhlal Shrestha in Gandaki, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi in Karnali and NP Savad in Sudurpaschim have been given the responsibility of coordination. According to the leaders, a house is being searched for on rent to open a liaison office for the general convention.

The central working committee meeting held on 11 Chaitra under the chairmanship of President Gagan Thapa has already decided to hold the 15th central general convention in the coming 16-19 Asoj. The update of active membership has been going on since 1 Baisakh. For that, a 'Jara Abhiyan' has been launched across the country under the leadership of General Secretary Pradeep Poudel. Poudel has said that the details of active members are being updated through a digital system.

Deuba-supporting leaders and cadres are not involved in the membership update campaign. The central level has issued instructions to leaders and cadres not to join the update campaign.

Leader Bimalendra Nidhi, who is in favor of Deuba, said that if there is no agreement between the supporters of the special general convention and the supporters of the 14th general convention, they will hold a separate 15th general convention. He says that the activities and behavior so far are not creating a conducive environment. ‘There is no sign of reconciliation. They say they will reconcile. But they are gathering unilaterally. We have yet to reach a decision after consulting on what to do,’ he said.

To transform the announced 15th general convention into unity, President Thapa had held separate talks with leader duo Khadka and Shekhar Koirala. Thapa is not only meeting Koirala but is also communicating on the telephone. He has met Khadka twice. But since the establishment and the other party are not flexible for unity, unity is moving away and the possibility of a parallel general convention is increasing, says another leader Shyam Ghimire.

The other party has been demanding that the unity between the Congress and the then Congress (Democratic) on 8 Asoj 2064 be carried out according to the framework. At that time, when the two Congresses united, both the central working committees were merged with the agreement to make Deuba the senior leader. The organizational structure had a division of 60 and 40.

leader Ghimire said that this time too, the central working committee formed from the 14th general convention and the special general convention can be merged in the same model. 'If the chairman does not have a majority when merging the two working committees, additional members can be nominated. But let's merge the office bearers and members of both sides as is, in doing so, Purna Bahadur Khadka himself should definitely not remain as the vice-chairman. Let's make him the senior leader,' Ghimire said about the condition, 'The general secretaries will remain in the current status quo. The rest is up to the joint general secretaries.' It doesn't matter if it's increased from 7 to 14.'

Ghimire says that Thapa should be flexible for party unification as both Purna Bahadur Khadka and Shekhar Koirala cannot stop Thapa from becoming the president from the 15th general convention.

'It would be better for Gaganji to unify the party, not in terms of how many people Purna Bahadur and Shekharji have today, but in terms of the message,' he said. 'Even when the two Congresses were united in 064, there was pressure not to bring Sher Bahadur Deuba but only to bring other influential leaders.' But Girija Prasad Koirala did not agree. He united because the message of party unity is bigger than the individual, now Gaganji should remember that.'

General Secretary Poudel said that the central committee cannot be rejected when the special general convention has been recognized not only by the Election Commission but also by the Supreme Court. According to him, the establishment party is preparing to unite by including the dissatisfied parties through nominations by President Thapa. 'We will include all the vacant posts in the Central Working Committee that came from the special general convention,' Poudel said, 'Dissolving or merging the Central Working Committee is outside the mandate. We cannot reach an agreement outside the mandate.'

The statute before the special general convention provides for the president to nominate 34 members. The special general convention has amended the statute and increased the number of members who can be nominated to 61. 'The nomination has been delayed so that everyone can agree,' said General Secretary Poudel, 'If there is agreement, then accordingly, otherwise those who want to come will be nominated soon.'

Some 'hardliner' leaders in Deuba's party are not in favor of accepting the working committee elected from the special general convention even after the Supreme Court recognized it. They doubt that the central working committee, which came unilaterally from the special general convention, will not be able to hold a fair general convention.

Another leader, Prakasharan Mahat, says that they have raised the demand to dissolve the central working committee elected from the special general convention and form an organizing committee for a fair general convention.

‘A fair mechanism is needed to hold the 15th general convention. For that, we can discuss whether to convert the current central working committee into an organizing committee or form a separate mechanism,’ he said. ‘In addition to the original organizing committee, an election, membership investigation and disciplinary committee should be formed with the understanding of both parties.’

After the establishment party was not positive about this, other groups have started preparations for a parallel general convention. Outside the establishment, Deuba and Koirala have separate groups. Both these groups did not participate in the special general convention held on 27-30 Poush. President Thapa was elected general secretary from the Koirala panel in the 14th general convention.

While the case regarding the party's legitimacy was pending in court, Khadka and Koirala's group stood on the same side. After the Supreme Court's verdict, Koirala has kept his group away from the party's parallel activities. Koirala says that he will stay in the middle and bring both the Thapa and Khadka factions together. But even if both sides do not back down from their respective stances, the leaders in the Koirala group are in favor of uniting with Thapa.