KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka has stated that the party’s division is now almost certain. He made the remark during a Wednesday afternoon briefing to establishment faction leaders at the party’s central office in Sanepa.
“Now it is almost certain that the party will split,” a leader present at the briefing quoted Khadka as saying.
The acting president explained that negotiations with the General Secretaries failed because they insisted on three key demands: announcing Gagan Thapa as the prime ministerial candidate after the upcoming elections, securing the retirement of President Sher Bahadur Deuba from politics, and forming a high command to oversee the allocation of House of Representatives tickets. While consensus was reached on all other points, these three demands remained unresolved.
Another leader close to Deuba, Ramesh Lekhak, added that even when Deuba offered to authorize ticket distribution for parliamentary candidates, the General Secretaries were not ready to agree.
Despite repeated efforts and flexibility from the party leadership, the talks failed to reach a resolution. “The discussions could not succeed. Even with maximum flexibility from the president, an agreement could not be reached,” Lekhak said.
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