Nepali Congress leadership: Easy rise, uneasy exit
Summary
Gagan Kumar Thapa has been elected president of Nepali Congress 2.0, but the party’s long history shows that leadership changes often end in deep internal disputes. Rival factions are now preparing separate conventions as the Supreme Court hears a case over the party’s legitimacy.
Key Points
- Gagan Kumar Thapa won the Nepali Congress 2.0 presidency with 6,584 votes, while Shyam Krishna Khadgi stayed in the race and received 375 votes.
- Bishwa Prakash Sharma and Pushpa Bhusal were elected unopposed to senior and women’s vice-presidential posts, while rival factions prepared for a separate convention.
- The article traces repeated Nepali Congress leadership disputes from the party’s origins in 1946 through major splits involving leaders such as BP Koirala, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala, Sushil Koirala and Sher Bahadur Deuba.
- A Supreme Court case over the party’s legitimacy remains pending as the current leadership transition again turns into a fight over control of the organisation.
