The Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the Nepali Congress has been deferred till Saturday. The meeting was put off on Friday after senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel and leader Bijay Kumar Gachhadhar put forth their views.

According to NC central member Arjun Narsingh KC, the meeting was deferred to forge consensus on the decision to be taken by the CWC.

It has been learnt that Party President Sher Bahadur Deuba was also considering putting off the meeting on Friday itself, and General Secretary Shashanka Koirala had also prepared a similar proposal to be tabled at the meeting.

President Deuba is preparing to take a call on fixing the date and place of the Mahasamiti meeting, forming a Statute Amendment Drafting Committee, and forming a Central Election Committee, among other issues, in the meeting.

The Paudel faction, however, said the Central Executive Committee and Parliamentary Committee formed against the party statute should be scrapped.

A central member said the Paudel camp is preparing to register a note of dissent if the decision to scrap the two committees was not made.

The establishment faction is also planning to postpone the Mahasamiti meeting. However, the Paudel faction had been demanding that the Mahasamiti meeting should be summoned within mid-June.

“The proposal should be passed by incorporating all the issues raised by other party leaders in the Central Working Committee meeting,” KC said, adding, “I have been saying that the proposal should be tabled by forging consensus in the Central Working Committee meeting.”

In the meeting held on Friday, senior leader Poudel reiterated his stance that President Deuba should take responsibility for the party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded elections. He blamed Deuba’s working strategy and wrong decision for the party’s election debacle.

He has also demanded the two committees formed against the party statute be scrapped at the earliest. The Deuba faction, however, is not ready to dismiss the committees.