KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala on Saturday said the party’s deepening internal dispute can be resolved through dialogue, expressing confidence that the country’s oldest democratic party will reunite.

Speaking to reporters in Sanepa on Saturday morning, Koirala said he had gone to attend a meeting of the faction led by former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba. He stressed that differences within the party should not be allowed to harden into a permanent split.

“We should not let the party break apart. It can come together again—and it must,” Koirala said. “Dialogue is essential. Through dialogue, the Nepali Congress’s disputes can be resolved. Conflicts happen all over the world, but they are resolved. Everything can be settled.”

A meeting of the Deuba faction was underway in Sanepa on Saturday, with several leaders from the Koirala faction also in attendance, underscoring continued cross-faction engagement despite the escalating standoff.

The remarks come a day after the Election Commission formally recognized the central working committee led by Gagan Thapa, who was elected party president at a special general convention. The Deuba faction, however, has rejected the commission’s decision, signaling it will not accept the new leadership.

Later on Saturday, the newly recognized central working committee is also scheduled to meet. Party president Gagan Thapa has called the meeting at a banquet hall in Baneshwor, setting the stage for parallel gatherings that reflect the party’s ongoing power struggle.

The Nepali Congress, long a central force in Nepal’s democratic politics, now faces a critical test over whether dialogue can bridge internal divisions—or whether the dispute will further fracture the party.