The central committee meeting called by the Nepali Congress acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka for Tuesday has been postponed until Wednesday morning owing to the uncertainty over its outcome amid escalating factional rivalry.

The meeting was called to discuss the situation after general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma went ahead with their plan to select a new leadership for the Congress by organising a special general convention. This was also the demand of the majority of the general convention representatives.

According to Congress office secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel, although the central committee was due to meet at the party office in Sanepa, it could not convene as senior leaders gathered instead at party chief Sher Bahadur Deuba’s residence in Maharajgunj.

The meeting was called after the faction calling for a special general convention decided to dissolve the party’s executive committee elected by the 14th General Convention on Monday. In response to the decision of the closed session of the convention that kicked off on Sunday, acting president Khadka had called a central committee meeting for Tuesday. He also sought to discuss matters with the presidents of the party’s district committees.

Despite objections from the faction led by Deuba, the majority of general convention delegates took part in the special convention, pushing the Congress president into the minority in the party. As tensions rose, the special convention organisers and the Deuba camp also signalled openness to dialogue.

The central committee meeting was called in view of an emerging situation that may necessitate decisions to counter any move from the special convention being held at Bhrikutimandap in Kathmandu.

As the meeting failed to convene at the given time, some central committee members signed the attendance register and left the party office, according to party leaders.

“Today’s central committee meeting appears to have been called with the intent of taking action against those from the special convention camp should they begin the [leadership] election process. But as the election programme did not start as announced, the meeting here also did not proceed,” a central member said.

The central committee meeting was called to approve any understanding that could be reached between the dialogue teams from both sides, the member added. In the absence of such an understanding, the party establishment preempted a disciplinary action against the two general secretaries, the main organisers of the special convention.

Leaders in favour of the special convention began the closed-door session from Monday. Although they had announced elections for various party posts on Tuesday, the process has been postponed until Wednesday.

Central committee members supporting Deuba, who had reached Sanepa for a meeting, called the special general convention a “gathering”.

Responding to journalists’ questions, NP Saud, a leader from the Deuba camp, said that an earlier central committee meeting, attended by even the leaders who are now attending the special convention, had fixed the dates for the party’s 15th general convention.

At that time, Saud said, even the special convention backers had said it would be impossible to hold the general convention within the originally proposed timeframe and had agreed to new dates.

They were also a part of the decision-making to postpone the general convention scheduled for January 11-12, Saud said. In light of the decision, what is happening at Bhrikutimandap is only a gathering, not a formal convention, he argued.

Congress general secretaries Thapa and Sharma, along with other leaders, had, on October 15, demanded a special convention with the signatures of 54 percent of the general convention delegates of the 14th general convention.

Article 17(2) of the party statute stipulates that if at least 40 percent of general convention delegates formally demand a special general convention, the party needs to organise it within three months. However, a central committee meeting on December 1 decided to hold the regular general convention on December 26–28 last year.

Later, citing inadequate preparations for the regular convention, the party decided to postpone it until May. Following this decision, the special convention supporters went ahead to organise the convention on the dates as they had first demanded.

Congress central member and former energy minister Dipak Khadka, who was present at the Sanepa office on Tuesday, also said the party would expel those who break away from the party.

Asked what decisions the central committee would make, Khadka gave a vague reply.

Senior leaders are working to keep everyone together, Khadka further said about efforts at reconciliation. “The party rank and file is exerting pressure on both sides to reach an understanding in order to maintain party unity.”