A meeting of the elected Central Working Committee members of the Nepali Congress slated for Monday was put off till May 5 due to a dispute over appointments to key party positions.

The meeting called to nominate office bearers was postponed as suggested by party General Secretary Shashank Koirala after leaders close to Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula decided to boycott the meet summoned “without discussing” the candidates.

The posts of vice-president, general secretary and deputy general secretary, for which the party chief names leaders with CWC’s approval, have been vacant for two years.

Deuba is considering naming Bimalendra Nidhi as his deputy while Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, who recently merged his party with the NC, is also claiming the post, said a Congress leader.

For the post of the nominated general secretary, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Bal Krishna Khand and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki are the aspirants. Contenders for the post of deputy general secretary are Min Bishwakarma and Prakash Sharan Mahat.

Leaders close to Poudel and Sitaula are also vying for the post of deputy general secretary. Nabindra Raj Joshi, Mahesh Acharya and Dilendra Prasad Badu aspire to be nominated for it.

NC General Secretary Koirala, talking to journalists at the party headquarters in Sanepa on Monday, said the meeting was postponed to seek consensus among the rival factions.

Any dispute in the party should be resolved through talks, said Koirala while Deuba warned of choosing candidates with majority votes if there was no consensus on their names. Deuba has a majority in the CWC. Among the 63 elected members, 35 are Deuba supporters.

Sitaula is also not happy with the CWC’s decisions and Deuba’s unilateral move to summon a meeting to appoint the office bearers.

Poudel said that he would boycott the meeting as the nominations were planned without amending the party statute. Both leaders are preparing to send several leaders from their side including Prakash Man Singh to express their views at the meeting.

The nominations are due two years after Deuba was elected the party president despite the statutory requirement of naming the office bearers within two months of the general convention.