Nepali Congress Faces Internal Strife Over Membership and Leadership

Kathmandu. The conflict within the Nepali Congress has reached its peak. The faction of the establishment (former President Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala) has called a national gathering from July 29 to 31, stating that their demands have been completely ignored by Gagan Thapa, who became the president through a special general convention, further escalating the conflict within Congress. The establishment faction, led by President Thapa, has called a central committee meeting on July 24, the eve of the gathering. The dissenting faction appears to be in favor of not stopping the gathering if their demands are not met in that meeting. If a gathering is held, there is no guarantee that it will not move towards division, similar to the special general convention (it was initially said that a new leadership would not be chosen, but it was later done), and currently (it is said that the gathering is not for splitting the party).

Currently, two demands out of those raised by the dissenting faction have not been agreed upon. The most pressing dispute is regarding the renewal of active membership for the 15th General Convention, where the establishment has made 'digital update' mandatory, causing the current issue. However, the dissenting faction insists that digital update should not be mandatory for those who have already renewed their membership for the 15th General Convention.