As the Nepali Congress (NC)  prepares to take the opposition seat in Parliament after its poor performance in the federal and provincial elections, the party plans to invest its time and energy for “rebuilding” its organisation.

According to NC leaders, a meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) will be called within a couple of days to review the party’s performance in the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections.

Despite pressure from the party rank and file to call the CWC meeting to discuss the reasons behind the party’s humiliating defeat in the elections held in November-December last year, party President Sher Bahadur Deuba had promised to call a meeting only after the National Assembly (NA) elections. For the purpose, the party has already instructed its grassroots entities to present their reports to the NC headquarters. The party is also collecting reports to be presented to the meeting.

Congress leaders blame a weak leadership, a messy party organisation and the lack of ideological clarity for the NC’s defeat. In several constituencies, according to leaders, the party faced a defeat due to non-cooperation from rival factions. Deuba, however, has refused to take responsibility saying that all the party leaders are collectively responsible for the electoral drubbing. Deuba has provided a clear message that he is not going to resign as the party president.

There is also pressure on the party leadership to make way for a younger generation to steer the party. “A new government is in place. Along with playing the role of the opposition in Parliament, we’ll invest our time and energy in rebuilding the party,” said CWC member Nabindra Raj Joshi. According to leaders, the CWC meeting will also prepare for its opposition role in Parliament.

A group of youth leaders are busy preparing a document on how to rebuild the party and reshape its leadership, ideology, and policies and programmes in the new situation.

There are also demands for convening the Mahasamiti, a policy-making body. However, there are divergent views inside the party about the business of such a meeting. Leaders from the Deuba faction say that the Mahasamiti will not take decisions on party leadership. But youth leaders are creating pressure for the apex body to discuss the leadership issue. The meeting will take decisions on amending the party statute necessary for recasting the party structure in the federal set-up.