As the mother party Nepali Congress gears up for its 13th General Convention that begins next week, the Nepal Student Union’s wait for its convention seems to be endless. Due to a factional dispute, the most vibrant sister wing of the largest party has not held its general convention for a decade.

The biennial convention has not taken place since 2005 and has been deferred six times in the last five years. The last date of the jamboree was slated for November 16, 2014. Every time the convention was announced disputes surfaced between the establishment faction and the other close to senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba over the selection of representatives.

Ever since the term of the elected Central Working Committee expired in 2007, the NC has been handpicking the president and other members of the committee.

The establishment faction gave the responsibility to Mahendra Sharma in 2007 while incumbent President Ranjit Karna has been at the helm for nearly five years. In 2011, he was tasked with holding the convention within six months. Aspiring student leaders say the Congress leadership has wasted their 10 years in politics.

“Had conventions taken place on time, three batches of leadership would have been produced,” said Nain Singh Mahar, a contender for the NSU presidential post. This would have created space for them in the mainstream party politics.

Former NSU general secretaries Manoj Mani Acharya and Bhupendra Jung Shahi from the establishment faction and former vice-chairman Mahar and former general secretary Jit Jung Basnet from the Deuba faction were the union president hopefuls.

NSU leaders said young leaders were finding it hard to join mainstream politics which was evident in the “shortage” of youth leaders during the NC convention. Though over 40 percent 

of the convention representatives are new faces, those vying for the Congress CWC membership are old ones.

Some student leaders allege that the party establishment’s fear of losing its grip over the union led to the successive postponements of the NSU convention. A majority of the NC sister wings, including Nepal Teacher Association, Democratic Lawyers’ Association, Nepal Press Union, Nepal Dalit Association, Nepal Youth Association, Women Association and Nepal Dalit Sangh, are led by cadres supporting the Deuba faction of the Congress.

Karna, however, does not buy the argument. He blames both the NC factions equally. “I tried to hold the convention but there was no cooperation,” he said. “We hope the party will seriously work for the NSU convention once its 13th conclave gets over.”