KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress youth leader Nainsingh Mahar has presented three proposals to former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba to resolve the growing internal dispute within the party.
During a meeting with Deuba on Sunday morning, Mahar stressed the need to resolve the dispute through immediate dialogue and consensus.
Mahar met Deuba after the former party president returned to Nepal following a prolonged medical treatment. He said the party could not move forward while remaining embroiled in internal conflict and urged the senior leadership to take the initiative to resolve the situation.
“I have proposed that the party should be united and move forward. I made three proposals to unite the party, and he also said they were right,” Mahar said.
Mahar’s first proposal is to arrange an immediate direct dialogue between party president Gagan Thapa and former president Deuba to resolve the ongoing dispute. He believes other contentious issues could also be settled through consensus once dialogue begins between the two leaders.
As his second option, Mahar proposed that both Gagan Thapa and Sher Bahadur Deuba step aside from the leadership and agree to a third person as the party’s leader, followed by the 15th General Convention. He said this could provide a new political settlement to the current leadership dispute.
Mahar’s third proposal concerns the Congress dispute currently under consideration by the court. He proposed that both sides should accept the court’s final verdict regardless of which side it favours, while resolving the party’s internal disputes through dialogue and consensus before the verdict is delivered.
“My proposal is that we should discuss and resolve all issues through dialogue and consensus before the court delivers its final verdict. Whatever the court ultimately decides, we should accept it,” Mahar said.
Former president Deuba has been meeting party leaders and cadres regularly since returning to Nepal on August 13. According to Mahar, Deuba has also been expressing his desire to keep the party united and move forward together.
Mahar said he informed Deuba that party president Gagan Thapa also wanted to meet him. According to Mahar, Deuba indicated that he was ready to work toward reconciliation.
“I told him that President Gagan Thapa wants to meet you and that we need to bring the party together. He said there was no problem and that the party should be united,” Mahar said.
However, Mahar said Deuba also believes that the court’s decision should be awaited as the Congress dispute has already reached the judiciary. According to him, Deuba appears open to both dialogue and waiting for the court’s verdict.
“His position is that we should hold dialogue while also waiting for the court’s decision,” Mahar said.
With disputes over leadership, the General Convention and the party’s legal status intensifying within the Nepali Congress, Mahar has been holding discussions with leaders from both sides in an effort to find a consensus.
His three proposals seek to provide three possible routes to resolve the crisis: direct dialogue between the top leaders, alternative leadership followed by the 15th General Convention, and consensus while accepting the court’s final decision.
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