KATHMANDU: The dispute within the Nepali Congress over the party’s 15th General Convention has intensified, with the preparation committee led by dissenting faction leader Shashank Koirala urging party leaders and cadres not to participate in the convention scheduled by the establishment faction from September 19.
Coordinator of the 15th General Convention Preparation Committee, Dr Shashank Koirala, said the ongoing dispute within the party is not merely an issue involving an individual or faction but a serious political question concerning the Nepali Congress’s legality, democratic culture, organisational unity and future.
The committee has urged the party not to create further divisions in the name of the general convention and said it would be inappropriate to unilaterally proceed with the convention schedule while the issue concerning the party’s legitimacy is under consideration by the Supreme Court.
The committee has also appealed to party leaders and cadres not to participate in what it described as a “so-called convention/general convention” beginning September 19 in violation of established procedures. Instead, it called on them to participate in ward conventions beginning October 1 in accordance with the schedule announced by the leadership elected by the 14th General Convention and help make the central general convention scheduled for December 7, 8 and 9 a success.
Koirala said the dispute within the party is not about any particular individual or leader. He said efforts had been made from the beginning to hold the general convention through consensus, cooperation and unity, but those efforts were not positively received.
Meanwhile, another leader from the dissenting faction, Prakash Sharan Mahat, has accused leaders including Gagan Thapa of failing to make genuine efforts toward consensus. Mahat claimed that instead of communicating with Sher Bahadur Deuba and the leadership elected by the 14th General Convention, greater emphasis had been placed on campaigning through social media and the media.
“We had proposed long ago that we should adjust and move forward with the general convention. The Nepali Congress cannot be run at an individual’s discretion. What is happening now is like rubbing salt into the party’s wounds,” Mahat said.
Mahat also accused some leaders of being unwilling to see the opposition faction rise to leadership from the grassroots to the central level. He said a political agreement could be reached without waiting for the court’s decision, but claimed that no serious effort had been made in that direction.
He said the faction was not seeking to form another party but was preparing to hold a new general convention under Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was elected party president by the 14th General Convention.
“We are not trying to form another party. We are holding a new general convention under Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was elected by the 14th General Convention. This general convention will be fair and will accommodate the sentiments of all party members,” Mahat said.
Mahat claimed that the possibility of consensus had become difficult because leaders including Gagan Thapa had taken an “insulting path.” He said the political dispute could still be resolved if the ongoing convention programme were postponed and an agreement reached to hold a unity general convention.
“If we agree to postpone the general convention programme and hold a unity general convention, an agreement can be reached. There can be no consensus without doing that,” Mahat said.
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