On Saturday, Gagan Thapa, a popular Nepali Congress leader and one of the party’s two general secretaries, made an interesting announcement: “The need of the hour is to make myself or any other leader from my generation the new prime minister of the country.” The announcement created a ripple of sorts in political circles—especially in the country’s largest party.

Most Congress leaders doubt the possibility of change in the party’s leadership before the next general convention, but Thapa’s supporters are working hard to make it a reality arguing that the party would otherwise get a drubbing in the next general elections given the widespread public frustrations against the traditional parties and their elderly leaders.

“After feeling the public pulse and considering the changing dynamics in the public sphere, Thapa has made such a statement. New political leadership is the need of the hour,” said Shankar Tiwari, a Congress leader and researcher close to Thapa. “The Congress party in the past had changed its parliamentary party leaders up to three times in a single term of Parliament. So the party president should clear the way for the new generation and guide the party as a father figure.”

According to Tiwari, there are only two ways to change the leader of the parliamentary party—by bringing a no-confidence proposal with the signatures of one-fourth of the total lawmakers of the party, or pressing the leader to pave the way for a new election.

The largest party in the federal parliament that is also the country’s oldest democratic party is convening its central working committee meeting this Wednesday after a gap of almost a year, and has entrusted the two general secretaries—Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma—to devise the agenda for the meeting. The party held its last central working committee meeting in June last year.

Thapa has been working hard to replace the parliamentary party leader as per his promise made to voters of Kathmandu constituency-4.

However, leader Shashank Koirala said on Monday that it was not possible to ‘oust’ an elected leader of the parliamentary party in the middle of his term.

“Leaders like Gagan Thapa are publicly saying that he [Deuba] failed to deliver, which is true to some extent. But we have to wait until the next convention,” Koirala told reporters after the Parliament meeting on Monday. “I have not seen the possibility of unseating him anytime before the next convention.”

In his attempt to transfer the party’s leadership to the younger generation, Thapa has been taking a series of steps since the last two internal elections of the party.

During the 13th general convention in 2016, he lost the polls to Shashank Koirala, but got elected as general secretary along with Sharma in the 14th convention held in December 2021.

Thapa, backed by the Koirala-led faction of the party, had contested for parliamentary party leadership but lost to Deuba. Thapa failed to garner even the votes of his own supporters, according to party insiders.

But Thapa has not lost hope. Given the rise of newer forces like the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the rising popularity of independent mayors like Balen Shah of Kathmandu and Harka Sampang Rai of Dharan, Thapa believes that Nepali Congress must make changes in its leadership to attract the younger electorate in the next elections.

Thapa was elected to the Central Working Committee with the highest number of votes in the 12th general convention held in 2010 and made it to the second most powerful position of general secretary in his second attempt.

Leaders of the Koirala faction say replacing the party’s leadership including parliamentary party leader doesn’t happen overnight.

“Party leaders keep talking about changing leadership just to appease the public but I don’t see any possibility of such a drastic change in the near future,” said Jeevan Pariyar, joint general secretary of the party.

Thapa didn’t receive votes from even his own supporters during the election to the parliamentary party leader as he garnered only 25 votes among the 31 members of the faction. He needed 44 votes to win the post.

But his supporters claim that things have changed in recent months, especially after the government brought an unpopular budget, and they have enough lawmakers to put pressure on the party chair to heed the calls for change.

The central working committee meeting on Wednesday is expected to finalise the date for the party’s policy convention, which was delayed due to the Covid pandemic.