KATHMANDU: The simmering power struggle within the Nepali Congress has escalated into an open factional feud, with the rival camp challenging the party leadership by setting up a parallel establishment.

Accusing Party President Gagan Thapa of undermining efforts toward unity, the faction led by former President Sher Bahadur Deuba has established a separate contact office in Chundevi, Kathmandu, to mount an organized challenge against the current leadership.

On Monday (July 6), the party’s former Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka, opened the door of the office in Chundevi by offering a garland upon a photograph of BP Koirala. The Deuba group is now set to operate its political activities from the same office.

Although formally stated to be for the ‘15th General Convention preparation,’ the establishment of the office is considered politically meaningful. Leader Min Bishwakarma says, “After the establishment of the office, either the dispute will be resolved quickly and the Nepali Congress will unite, or an organized and alternative power will be formed.” With this, group leaders state that the Nepali Congress has reached a ‘do or die’ situation.

Bishwakarma alleges that although flexibility was adopted to settle the dispute between the special general convention proponents and the group outside it, the leadership took it as a weakness. The Deuba group and the centrist leader Shekhar Koirala’s group did not participate in the special general convention on January 11 this year. After the Supreme Court gave legitimacy to the Thapa leadership on April 17, the discussions held between the establishment and alternative factions for unity have been remaining inconclusive. “We, the regular general convention proponents, adopted the utmost flexibility to resolve the party’s dispute. The leadership’s trickery was seen to stop meetings and prevent unity just when things were about to be settled. Now, we have reached the conclusion that we must also collect our strength,” Bishwakarma says.

Former Nepali Congress Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka

Following the establishment of the office, a meeting of the Deuba group was held under the chairmanship of Khadka. The meeting decided to grandly observe the BP Memorial Day on July 22. “Now, the meeting will sit again tomorrow. After that, decisions on a national gathering or other activities will be made,” former Vice President Bimalendra Nidhi says.

In Monday’s meeting, office bearers, central committee members, and National Assembly members elected from the 14th General Convention participated. Previously, the Deuba group had prepared to establish an office in the New Baneshwar area. However, it is understood that the office was established in Chundevi after the Vastu did not match. The office was established for the Deuba group through the activeness of leader Kanchharam Tamang and others. Bishwakarma states that the party contact office was established to bring the group that remained outside the special general convention into unity, and it should not be considered a parallel activity. “The leadership has undervalued a large power of the party that did not participate in the special general convention. Establishing a contact office to integrate the views of a different line and opinion does not constitute parallel activities,” he says.

The establishment of a separate contact office by the Deuba group within the Nepali Congress is viewed not just as a step of organizational management but as a public declaration of an increasing power struggle. It has signaled that after the efforts for unity failed to reach a conclusion for a long time, the alternative faction has brought forward a strategy to organize its own power. In the coming days, whether dialogue between the leadership and the Deuba group succeeds in reaching party unity or this clash turns toward a new political polarization seems poised to be decisive in the internal politics of the Nepali Congress.

Khadka’s briefing: Leadership does not want unity

In today’s meeting of the Deuba group, Khadka did a ‘briefing’ on the recent dialogues and unity efforts with the party leadership. Narrating the chain of events from the discussion held with Vice President Bishwa Prakash Sharma to the meetings held with President Gagan Thapa and General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire, Khadka presented the conclusion to the meeting that the leadership does not appear serious toward party unity.

Proponents of the centrist line leader Shekhar Koirala’s faction, however, did not participate in the meeting. Deuba-aligned leaders, including Khadka, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Nidhi, Prakash Man Singh, Shashank Koirala, and Min Bishwakarma, participated in the meeting.

Khadka stated in the meeting that Vice President Sharma had sent a seven-point proposal via WhatsApp. He also narrated to the meeting that he had read out the reply to the said proposal on the very day of their meeting. “After this, Sharma had left, saying he would inform the party president,” a leader participating in the meeting says, “Since then, he has not come into contact.” The Nepali Congress had made the seven-point proposal public on June 14. President Thapa had met Khadka on April 19. They have not met since then. Following that, General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire had met Khadka on June 30. Khadka stated in the meeting that none of those meetings were fruitful for party unity.

Participants at a meeting of the rival group of the Nepali Congress

When coming up with the seven-point proposal, Khadka had put forward his stances to Vice President Sharma. The Deuba group is not participating in the membership updating process called by the establishment faction. Centrist leader Shekhar Koirala is also not involved in the said process.

In the meeting with Sharma, Khadka had proposed the adjustment of the working committees elected from the 14th and the special general conventions to make the 15th General Convention a general convention of unity. For this, Khadka had placed a proposal before Sharma to adjust 111 people into the central committee, including the Koirala group as well.

“Eleven from our group and eight from the Koirala group have already been nominated. Apart from them, we demanded to manage 111 people,” the leader says, quoting Khadka. Similarly, the Deuba group had also brought forward a condition that representation of all factions must be present in the discipline, election, active membership, and investigation committees. However, Khadka stated in the meeting that the leadership was not positive toward any of those proposals.

In the meeting, Khadka also disclosed that the responsibility of senior leader was proposed to him. However, he stated that he had rejected the said proposal, saying that the crisis would be resolved only by institutionally unifying the party and not by giving a post to an individual.

Participants at a meeting of the rival group of the Nepali Congress

A similar proposal was made to Shekhar Koirala too. Koirala had also stated that he held no aspiration for any post, saying that priority must be given to party unity. Koirala gave an ultimatum until July 9 to conduct party unity to Sharma, who had reached his residence in Dhapasi to meet him on June 30. The special general convention had amended the statute of the Nepali Congress. In the amended statute, a provision has been made making the active membership updating, renewal, and new distribution mandatory one time. The Nepali Congress had started the process from May 16 to implement the said provision of the statute.

The Nepali Congress had initially fixed the time until June 4 for membership updating, renewal, and new membership distribution. After that, the deadline was extended until midnight of June 11. When the process was still not completed then, the deadline was extended to June 14, June 21, July 4, and now up to July 19.

This time, the Nepali Congress has made the process strict for missed members. Those who have not come into the update by July 4 will now have to submit an application directly to the central office and complete the process by being present in person. Leaders and workers who do not participate in the said process will miss out on the 15th General Convention.

The establishment faction had started the membership updating process in preparation to conduct the 15th regular general convention by mid-October this year.