Expressing dissatisfaction over his the party president’s working style, the dissent Nepali Congress group led by Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that Congress should change its strategy and come up with a “concrete position” to end the current political and constitutional deadlock.

The Deuba faction said that calling for Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s resignation would only prolong the tenure of the government and would not solve any problems faced by the country. It maintains that the party should instead come up with a clear plan to bring the country into a constitutional track.

“Along with the PM’s resignation, the party should give priority to issues related to the drafting a new constitution,” said NC leader Prakash Saran Mahat, who is close to Deuba. Team Deuba is preparing to raise this issue at the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) meet, which has been postponed until August 30.

NC President Sushil Koirala is of the view that the party will discuss fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) elections or its revival only after the PM’s resignation. However, the Deuba faction said that such “reactive politics” would only prolong the crisis as there is no possibility of removing PM Bhattarai at the present moment. “There should be issue-based negotiations with the Maoist party instead of sticking to resignation,” said another leader close to Deuba.

The second option to ending the deadlock, according to the Deuba faction, is to prepare a draft of the new constitution and endorsing it through a referendum. The faction stated that as chances of agreement among parties on contentious issues are quite low, a referendum is the best alternative.

The third option that the Deuba camp is proposing is CA’s revival for a short period to make amends to the Interim Constitution and electoral laws for the holding of fresh elections. It claims that even if the country goes to new CA elections, the CA must first be revived. As the Koirala faction is in favour of parliamentary elections, Team Deuba has said that the party should give up the agenda of new CA elections. The CWC meet, deferred due to Koirala’s schedule, is likely to witness a fierce debate between the rival factions. A political paper presented by another leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula has failed to impress party leaders.