19 August, Kathmandu. The severe flood in the river Trishuli through Bhotekoshi of Rasuwa has caused great loss of human wealth. The floods that occurred on 10 August caused unimaginable damage in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading.
According to the data of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 1,344 bodies have been found till the time of preparing this news. 4 thousand eight hundred and eighty six people have died and are without contact. There are 606 foreign nationals among those without contact.
Rescue and treatment of a large number of flood-injured people is ongoing. There are 9 thousand 287 Nepali Army, 7 thousand 931 Nepal Police and 4 thousand 203 Armed Police in the security personnel deployed in flood affected areas.
Neighboring countries India, China and South Korea have also sent technical teams to search for those who have no contact. Relatives are spending day and night searching for and waiting for the rescue of those who are missing in the flood and trapped in the tunnels of various hydropower projects.
However, at this time of national calamity, the Nepali Congress is entangled in its own internal strife.
A separate agenda for the 15th Congress has been advanced in the midst of more than nine months of tension.
The Founding Group has come up with a schedule for the 15th Congress for October 16-19 and accordingly the grassroots schedule has been advanced. On the other hand, other groups of organizations have announced a new agenda for the convention in November.
While all the mechanisms of the state are being mobilized for the search, rescue and relief of the flood-affected citizens, the Congress is considering the leadership and legitimacy of its own organization.
While the dispute regarding the legitimacy of the party is pending in the Supreme Court, the two groups have proceeded with the convention process in their own way.
Many have criticized and commented on the recent activities of the Congress. At the time of national crisis, some say that the priority of the Congress should be focused on rescue, relief and the affected citizens rather than the tug-of-war of the convention.
However, political analyst Sougat Gautam says that the current Congress controversy should not be understood only as a political exercise during a crisis.
Gautam said, "Even though it is politically uncomfortable to see the drag of the convention during a crisis, there are long-standing organizational and legal questions behind it."
He argues that the right option for the Congress now is whether it is a convention or disaster management. Gautam said, "It is the right choice for the Congress to show political sensitivity to the disaster while maintaining the convention process."
He also said that advancing the agenda of the parallel congress when search, rescue and relief is a priority may be criticized in terms of sensitivity. "At least the activities of the party should not overshadow the priority of disaster management," he said.
However, Gautam argues that it is not an easy option to make the convention process uncertain by showing the disaster.
"If there is an attempt to make the convention uncertain on the pretext of a disaster, it will cause its own legal and political complications," he said, "so the first option is to maintain the process of the convention and balance it with the political sensitivity to the disaster."
The Deuba group says - a compelling situation has arisen to move the process forward
The group close to the outgoing chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the process of the 15th Congress had to be moved forward after the compelling situation was created.
Deepak Prasad Kuikel, coordinator of the secretariat coordination committee under the Deuba Group's 15th Central Convention Preparation Committee, said, "We are not holding conventions in the flood-affected districts now. That's why we are holding on.
He claimed that after the Supreme Court did not issue an interim order on the petition registered to stop the convention, a compelling situation has been created to proceed with the process of the 15th convention.
"After the court did not give an interim order, the central working committee elected from the 14th convention was forced to hold the 15th convention," leader Kuinkel said, "that's why we had to move forward with a schedule."
Deuba party leader Dr. Prakasharan Mahat said that when the issue of officialdom was under consideration, after the special convention supporters brought the agenda, they also had to bring the agenda.
He argues that if the special convention party's convention is completed while the court's decision is uncertain, their legal claims may be weakened, so they were forced to come up with an agenda.
"When Nissa is under consideration in the court, we are not in a position to remain silent after the special convention supporters have drawn up the schedule of the convention," leader Mahat said, "when they say that our convention has been completed, our case in the court will be weakened. It is not known when the court will decide. In that sense, this schedule has to be drawn up.
He insisted that Congress cannot be said to have nothing to do with the disaster caused by the flood if other groups are bringing the agenda of the convention.
It is not the case that we have nothing to do with the disaster in making the schedule. We have kept it for that," Mahat said, "that's why we have kept the date of November. We have postponed the date of ward convention. That too apart from the three flood-affected districts.
The other group's meeting held at Chunadevi on Thursday decided to bring the agenda of the convention for the Bhotekoshi flood-affected districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading later.
Statutory obligation to proceed with the process: Mahamantri Gururaj Ghimire
Congress General Minister Gururaj Ghimire also says that there is a legal obligation to proceed with the convention process. He said that although it is everyone's priority to help the citizens in disaster, the Congress is not in a position to completely stop the regular and legal work of the party.
The priority of the government and all the parties is to help the residents of the flood affected areas. However, there is a mandatory situation where the parties have to carry out their regular work,'' General Minister Ghimire said. We have brought the schedule from the ward to the center. We do not have the facility of time to stop it.
He also said that during the calamity, all the attention of the Congress was focused on searching and rescuing the affected native and foreign citizens. General Minister Ghimire says that the Congress is also supporting the government in the search and rescue.
"Right now, our government is completely focused on helping our Nepalese brothers and sisters in disaster and searching for foreign citizens who have come as tourists from all over the world," he said. However, we also have an obligation to advance the convention.
The other groups of the Congress establishment have passed the agenda for organizing the 15th Congress in Kathmandu in the third week of November. The meeting which lasted for two days in Chundevi decided to hold the Central Congress on 21-23 November.
Deepak Prasad Kuikel, Coordinator of the Secretariat Coordinating Committee under the '15th Central Convention Preparation Committee' has informed that the Ward Convention on 15th October and the Municipal Convention on 20th October have been set as part of the convention.
According to him, regional convention of state assembly constituencies and representative assembly constituencies will be held on October 23, district convention on October 15 and state convention on November 4.
Other groups said that the agenda of the convention in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts affected by Bhotekoshi flood will be published later. Similarly, leader Kuinkel said that the agenda of public relations committees on foreign affairs will be published after the necessary consultation.
The founding party of the Congress had already passed the agenda of the 15th Congress through the Central Working Committee meeting. According to the approved agenda, the Central Congress will be held in Kathmandu on October 16-19.
The founding party has made a schedule for the village-city ward convention on August 24, the village-municipality convention on October 27 and the state assembly regional convention on August 31.
Similarly, the regional session of the House of Representatives will be held on October 3, the district session of districts with only one region, the district session of two or more regions on October 7, and the provincial session on October 10.
