The meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee concluded after nine days on Wednesday without taking a decision on the fate of party leader Bal Krishna Khand, a leader of the party and former home minister who is in judicial custody following criminal charges in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

The meeting adopted an 18-point decision addressing various issues including governance, the country’s economic status, rising inflation, the plight of the people, the recent gold smuggling case, shortage of chemical fertiliser, and lumpy skin disease, among others.

Although the party decided to back the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition in good governance and its campaign against corruption, the meeting ignored calls from party dissidents to suspend Khand’s central committee membership.

Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa, who leads dissidents in the party, registered a note of dissent saying any party member or official facing criminal charges should be suspended, according to Bishwa Prakash Sharma, another general secretary.

Thapa also posted his 13-point dissent addressed to party president Sher Bahadur Deuba on Twitter. “I had presented my views on good governance and corruption control at the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee meeting on July 24 and would like to register these as my dissent in writing,” the document posted by Thapa reads.

Without mentioning Khand’s name, Thapa has said any member or office bearer of the party should step down as a responsible representative to the party and the people. “If such person refuses to step down, then the party should suspend him/her from the position until the conclusion of the investigation or judicial process.”

General Secretary Sharma had read out the decision of the party meeting on Wednesday.

“At the initiative of the Nepali Congress, it was possible to set up the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority,” said the decision. “Since corruption is a heinous crime, anyone who is proven guilty should face legal action as per the law.”

“The government’s crackdown on corruption to promote good governance is a welcome step and the party supports the move,” the party has stated.

Khand was a longtime associate of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba. Earlier, as the dissidents at the Central Committee meeting demanded that Khand should be suspended from the party, most members close to Deuba remained silent, while others defended the accused.

And it was Deuba who had the last laugh.

“The meeting was longer than expected and I thought there would be much criticism, but fortunately it was not much,” said Deuba at the conclusion of the meeting on Wednesday.

The party had livestreamed the entire meeting and it was the first time any Nepali political party had broadcast such a crucial meeting.

“In fact we had lively discussions on several issues. The world knows we are no weaker than anyone and it has been proved,” said Deuba while offering tributes to the martyrs and all those who built the party and took it to the present position.

Deuba also announced that the next meeting of the Central Working Committee will start from September 19. There has been criticism of Deuba for not calling the party’s meeting for almost a year as the party statute requires that such meetings must be held every two months.

The meeting also withdrew the action the party had taken against 14 of its leaders who won the elections by contesting against the party’s or the ruling coalition’s official candidates in the parliamentary, provincial and local elections.

At the meeting, Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat had demanded action against party leaders and cadres who make disparaging comments against the party and leaders on social media.

As expected, the party did not call a policy convention. Earlier, Nepali Congress leaders were saying that the meeting would fix the date for the convention. But the party has decided to call the meeting of its Mahasamiti (general committee) on November 27-29. The Mahasamiti is the highest policy making body of the party. Though the 14th general convention of the party that concluded in December 2021 decided to hold the policy convention of the party but there is no such provision in the party charter so the meeting decided to convene the meeting of Mahasamiti, said Sharma.