Nepali Congress Factions Hold Separate Meeting as Internal Divisions Resurface

Kathmandu — Internal divisions have resurfaced within the Nepali Congress, as leaders aligned with Purna Bahadur Khadka and Shekhar Koirala held a separate meeting in Kathmandu on Sunday.

The meeting took place at 9 a.m. while a Central Working Committee meeting led by party president Gagan Thapa was ongoing at the party’s central office in Sanepa.

Separate Meeting and Leadership Decisions

The gathering was chaired by Khadka and attended by Koirala along with leaders who were part of the former Central Executive Committee. Leader Min Bahadur Bishwakarma said the group held a meeting of the Central Executive Committee and decided to call a Central Committee meeting soon.

According to him, the Central Committee meeting will be convened within a week, and Khadka has been assigned responsibility to initiate the process.

Leaders said the meeting will discuss convening the Central Committee formed through the 14th General Convention, reviewing election results, and addressing matters related to the 15th General Convention.

Background of Dispute and Election Outcome

A special general convention held in Poush under the leadership of then general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma had elected Thapa as president and Sharma as vice president. The Election Commission recognized the convention, but the Deuba faction has challenged it in the Supreme Court, where the case remains under consideration.

Former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba is currently in Hong Kong. The issue has come to the forefront after the Nepali Congress secured only 38 seats in the House of Representatives election. Following the developments, Thapa, who became president through the special general convention, has also resigned from his position.