Hectic parleys, closed-door negotiations and boycotting meetings to pile pressure have become a new norm in Nepali Congress after the Gen Z uprising of September 8 and 9.

The reason is how and when to hold the party’s general convention, be it special or regular one.

To solve this riddle, the party has held a series of meetings and consultations from early October but has failed to find reconciliation between two rival factions–one led by party chief Sher Bahadur Deuba and the other by general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma and senior leader Shekhar Koirala.

Thapa and Sharma have already proposed dates and ways to convene the party’s 15th general convention.

Since 54 percent of elected general convention representatives have submitted a petition to the party’s Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka demanding a special convention in case the party fails to convene the general convention on time. But the party establishment, led by Deuba and Khadka, looks hell bent on deferring the convention, proposing to hold it only after the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 5.

The four-year term and mandate of the party’s present leadership and bodies expires in mid-December. Therefore, the party has to hold a regular convention by then.

With the establishment faction, which enjoys a strong majority in the central working committee, ignoring both proposals tabled by Thapa and Sharma, leaders are exploring ways to hold the convention and keep the party united.

Amid a festering factional feud, senior Congress leaders including Sharma and Koirala have assured cadres that the party will remain intact.

Also on Saturday, party’s office bearers held a meeting at the party headquarters in Sanepa in a bid to forge an understanding on the convention date. However, the meeting couldn’t decide whether to convene the jamboree before or after the March polls.

After the meeting, party spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat said that they were narrowing down the differences and that the party is close to a consensus.

“The office bearers’ meeting focused on how to forge consensus following a discussion at the central committee,” Mahat said. “We believe a conclusion will be reached with a common understanding.”

Two views have emerged regarding the timing of the general convention. The establishment faction insists that it would be appropriate to hold the party convention around next April-May only after the snap elections.

However, the dissident faction—led by Thapa and Sharma—wants to elect the Congress leadership either through regular or a special general convention in time to go to the polls under a new leadership.

Due to this disagreement, the ongoing Central Committee meeting has been deferred till Sunday.

According to an office bearer who took part in the discussion, two separate schedules were proposed at the meeting.

After General Secretary Sharma proposed holding the general convention from December 31 to January 3, the establishment faction floated its own proposal to hold the convention from May 11 to 13.

On rumors that the differences would cause the party to split, Sharma ruled out such a possibility. He said that no one should imagine a division in the party. Speaking to journalists after the Saturday meeting, Sharma argued that Congress tolerated differing opinions in the past, which is the case now, and will continue to be in the future. Such differences cannot be the grounds for a party split, he added.

Sharma reportedly floated a “middle ground proposal” at the meeting as he suggested holding the 15th general convention from December 31. In any dispute, he proposed consultation with Mahasamiti members. Mahasamiti is the party’s all-powerful policy-making body.

“We can get Mahasamiti members’ opinions through digital platforms,” Sharma said. Any political party faces problems when “ego” rather than “issue” becomes prominent, he told the meeting, according to participants.

The Nepali Congress must be free from ego—both in national and its internal politics, Sharma said. The party has over 1,780 Mahasamiti members. “Instead of haggling over two dates—mid-December or the second week of May—let’s settle for December 31,” he proposed.

On one side, there is the majority of the Central Committee; on the other, there is the backing of 54 percent convention representatives, Sharma said about the modality of holding the convention. “Respecting both, let’s refer the issue to the Mahasamiti.”

Leaders said that the agenda will continue to be discussed at the central committee on Sunday.