Nepali Congress spokesperson and publicity department chief Min Bahadur Bishwakarma has said the Central Committee meeting was postponed to bring all party members to an agreement.
Disagreements over the general convention have kept the meeting postponed repeatedly since Kartik 27. The meeting scheduled for today has been pushed to 1 PM on Saturday, Mangsir 6.
Speaking to Bishwakarma, who is also a Central Committee member, said the meeting had to be delayed because further discussions were needed to reach unanimous decisions within the party.
“Both the party president and the acting president have held informal talks with all leaders. The Central Committee must take unanimous decisions on matters including the general convention, and additional discussions are necessary. For that reason, today’s meeting has been postponed,” he said.
According to him, President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka have also been holding informal discussions with General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma, as well as other office-bearers and former office-bearers.
Former office-bearers Bimalendra Nidhi, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, and Prakash Man Singh have said the party should focus on the upcoming elections and hold the general convention afterward. They organized a gathering of Central Committee members in Baneshwor on Wednesday. Twenty-seven members aligned with the Deuba faction, however, did not attend and held a separate gathering in Kupandol.
Meanwhile, General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma, along with leader Shekhar Koirala, have said that if the regular general convention cannot be held, the party must now proceed with a special general convention. There is ongoing disagreement within the party on whether to hold the convention before the Falgun 21 election and whether it should be regular or special.
Fifty-four percent of general convention representatives have demanded that the date and venue for the special general convention be announced within the end of Poush. They submitted signatures to the acting president on Asoj 29 calling for a special general convention and have asked for the identification process and other procedures to begin.
