If things go as planned, the Nepali Congress is all set to hold its policy convention in mid-September. The convention has been due since December 2021 when the party concluded its 14th general convention.

Citing the Covid pandemic, the general convention only elected new party leadership and deferred policy discussion. Now, according to one of the general secretaries, Gagan Thapa, they are planning to hold the policy convention by mid-September.

“It should have been held much earlier,” said Thapa, adding, “we are going to take some important decisions to revamp the party.”

With the rise of new political parties like the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the grand old party is feeling the heat as lots of Congress cadres at the grassroots are leaving the party and joining others.

Thapa, who is a vocal critic of the party leadership, particularly of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, has been speaking in favour of revamping the party and wants to replace the leadership.

To replace the Congress leadership, at least 25 percent of the party’s elected delegates should ask its central working committee to call a special convention. Besides regular convention, a special convention can replace the party leadership with majority votes. The Congress has over 4,500 elected delegates who elect the party’s leadership.

Besides Thapa, there is another section of party leaders that is currently interacting with cadres across the country to gauge the mood of the grassroots. Although the section is close to senior party leader Shekhar Koirala and Thapa, the two have not joined the campaign.

Gururaj Ghimire, a leader involved in the campaign who is currently in Surkhet, told the Post that there is widespread disenchantment at the grassroots with the Congress leadership.

“Policy convention is not a remedy for what is going on with the party leadership and disillusionment among grassroots cadres,” said Ghimire. “Over eighty percent of cadres want a change in leadership.”

“We are about to complete the first round of our nationwide campaign, and so far we have found strong calls for a change in leadership and other reforms. The party is currently facing both external and internal challenges. In order to keep our voter base intact, we need to plan something big,” said Ghimire.

As per the Congress charter, the policy convention should have been organised within six months of the general convention, but it has already been more than a year since the general convention.

According to leaders who have been pressing the party to organise the policy convention, they expect the party to make its position clear on its ideology and policies, including economic and foreign policies, in the convention.

Deuba, who is leading the country’s grand old party for the second term, is this time facing growing challenges from within the party.

Despite the lack of numbers, party vice president Dhanaraj Gurung, general secretaries duo Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Shamra, among others, have been questioning the competence of the party leadership especially in the wake of the party’s poor showing in last year’s general elections as well as the recent by-elections in which Congress lost its traditional bastions to the new Rastriya Swatantra Party.

Thapa said that the party should call its Mahasamiti meeting as per the party charter which will turn into a policy convention. As per the party charter, the Congress should call the meeting of the party’s highest policy-making body, the Mahasamiti, every year.

Deuba, meanwhile, has failed to fill vacant office-bearer positions in the party’s sister organisations and departments. The Koirala-Thapa camp has repeatedly criticised the party chief on the issue.

Deuba recently came down hard on the Congress leaders who have been asking him to take an early retirement.

“Only criticising the leadership does not make the party strong,” Deuba said at a function in Lalitpur, “I ask them to connect with the people. Go and connect with the general public.”

Meanwhile, the Congress publicity department chief Min Bishwakarma, who is close to Deuba, said the upcoming central working committee of the party will take a call on the policy convention.

“The policy convention won’t make a big difference in the party, but some changes will be made in its charter,” said Bishwakarma. “It is not easy to oust the party leadership.”