Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa, until recently a sharp critic of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, now seems to be on the same page with the party chief.

As the two leaders inch closer, Deuba has been entrusting Thapa with decision-making on major issues and the latter seems to be enjoying working closely with the veteran leader.

Thapa stood against Deuba’s re-election as the party chief during the 14th general convention held in December 2021 in Kathmandu. Against Deuba’s bid for the second consecutive tenure, Thapa supported Shekhar Koirala. While Deuba defeated Koirala to retain the post, Thapa and another youth leader Bishwa Prakash Sharma were elected to the two posts of general secretaries from different panels.

In December 2022, Koirala and Thapa again teamed up to challenge Deuba while electing the parliamentary party leader. Thapa gave his candidacy against Deuba, only to be defeated by a huge margin.

Thapa did not give up. In February last year, Thapa again challenged Deuba by presenting a proposal at the Mahasamiti meeting and strongly advocated the idea of not forging any alliance for the elections.

Thapa’s proposal came after the Congress decision to enter an electoral alliance with the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (Unified Socialist) in November 2022 was severely criticised by the party members.

By presenting a separate proposal on the issue at the Mahasamiti meeting, which is taken as a policy-making body of the party, Thapa tried to lead on key policy issues.

Despite the Mahasamiti meeting endorsing his proposal, leaders close to Deuba were against the proposal.

The central committee meeting of the party in August also came to a decision close to Thapa’s proposal of not allying with other parties. While the proposal was partially endorsed, the meeting concluded by saying, “an alliance related to the election will be decided based on needs of the particular time”.

Thapa also was against the party chief when Deuba decided to forge the alliance with CPN-UML, the second largest party in the House of Representatives, to form the government led by UML chief KP Sharma Oli on July 1.

But Thapa, who had long been challenging Deuba, has recently developed close relations with the party president. The two leaders have been closely working to settle key issues related to the government and foreign affairs.

Of late, Deuba has given Thapa important roles in inter-party negotiations and other tasks.

Recently, Deuba picked Thapa over other leaders in the two-party task force formed to set the agenda for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s China visit scheduled to start on December 2.

Thapa also represents the largest party in another task force cobbled together to discuss Nepal’s proposals on the BRI Implementation Plan, where the UML is represented by Prime Minister Oli’s political adviser Bishnu Rimal and financial adviser Yubaraj Khatiwada.

Earlier, ruling partners Congress and UML formed a task force to formulate the common minimum programme of the coalition government. While deputy general secretaries duo Pradeep Gyawali and Bishnu Rimal were taskforce members from the UML, Thapa and Prakash Sharan Mahat were the members from the Congress.

Although they seem to be on the same page, party president Deuba and general secretary Thapa still have differences, says a party leader.

The leader argued that the current situation has compelled party chief Deuba to work in coordination with Thapa as none of his other trusted leaders is as accomplished in getting things done. Besides, according to the leader, Deuba may be trying to create a bigger space in the party for his wife Arzu Rana Deuba, who is currently a foreign minister in the Oli Cabinet.

It is not only on the BRI that Thapa has been involved as a key negotiator; he also played a crucial role to resolve the long-drawn dispute in the parliamentary endorsement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in February 2022.

Thapa was one of the key interlocutors in finding a way out in the MCC imbroglio when he helped to devise a 12-point interpretive declaration. This was at the time of a heated debate on whether to endorse the MCC compact through Parliament that had gripped the country.

Despite playing a vital role in the compact’s parliamentary endorsement, the rapport between Deuba and Thapa did not last. So, many leaders still argue, it would be too early to say that the Deuba-Thapa partnership will endure this time.

The party's publicity department head, Min Bahadur Bishwakarma, claimed that relations between the two leaders soured after Thapa decided to form his own camp. However, at present, an atmosphere of trust has developed between party chief Deuba and Thapa, Bishwakarma says.

“The party president has a good relationship not only with Thapa but also another general secretary, Bishwa Prakash Sharma,” said Bishwakarma.

Relations between Deuba and Thapa seem to have grown cordial compared to the past, and a few factors have contributed to this, says Geja Sharma Wagle, a longtime Congress watcher and a political analyst.

“In recent years, Thapa has established himself as a leader who can shoulder challenges, a leader with vision and strategy,” Wagle said. “Thapa also has proven that he has the political acumen to pull the party out of difficult situations.”

In Wagle’s reckoning, Deuba took Thapa into confidence after Thapa expressed his willingness to shoulder greater responsibility and come up with solutions on pressing issues. He is also ready to tackle the challenges posed by the emergence of a new party, adds Wagle, besides having a solid understanding of the party organisation.

Thapa’s growing intimacy with Deuba means that his distance from Shekhar Koirala has increased. So far, Thapa and Koirala have jointly led the party’s rival faction and often challenged the party establishment on certain issues.

“Maintaining a distance from Koirala could be Thapa’s tactical move,” says another leader of the party who is close to both Koirala and Thapa. “While contesting the election of parliamentary party leader against Deuba in late 2022, Thapa had agreed to support Koirala for the position of party chief in the upcoming general convention.”

Working closely with party chief Deuba comes with both pros and cons for Thapa. Deuba has already declared his intent not to contest party presidency in the next general convention. The party statute stipulates a two-term limit for the party chief, and Deuba has already been president twice.

Koirala, however, is preparing to contest for the party president.

There are a number of second-rung leaders from Deuba’s camp who have been supporting the party chief, expecting his backing in their race for the party’s top post. If Thapa gets close to Deuba, they will feel betrayed by Deuba. In that case, Thapa may also lose out on the support of the old Koirala-Thapa camp.

A former general secretary of the party says it would be premature to analyse the effect of the current working relations between Deuba and Thapa in the upcoming general convention.

Should Thapa get close to Deuba, as reported, Thapa could face questions from his supporters. “Thapa established himself by asking hard questions of the party establishment including Deuba,” says another party leader. “How can he now be seen surrendering to the same leader?”

But speaking with the Post on the condition of anonymity, other party leaders said that in the contest for the party leadership, strategy will prevail ethics.

One of Thapa’s core interests in working closely with Deuba is to hold the party’s next general convention on time, they said. They also claimed that General Secretary Sharma and some leaders like Pradip Paudel are with Thapa on the agenda of a timely convention.

But Bishwakarma, the publicity department chief, said that the growing closeness between Deuba and Thapa had nothing to do with the next general convention.