KATHMANDU:- Nepali Congress General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma has met President Sher Bahadur Deuba and said that the special general convention demanded in accordance with the constitution cannot be ignored.

General Secretary Sharma has also told President Deuba that he will resign from the post of General Secretary if the party decides to go against the written demands made by the general convention delegates by collecting signatures based on the statute.

Sharma, who spoke with Speaker Deuba, who returned from Singapore on Friday, for about an hour and a half, expressed his view that statutory demands should not be ignored. Immediately after returning from meeting Deuba, General Secretary Sharma conveyed the views he had expressed to the President to a limited number of party leaders.

While talking to party leaders at a restaurant in Hattisar, General Secretary Sharma conveyed his views to the President. Sharma had told Deuba that the special general convention was binding as it was a provision made in the statute.

“The Congress has said that the dissolution of Parliament was done outside the constitution and is not in accordance with the constitution. A special general convention is a constitutional demand of the party. “If that is not addressed, we will not be operating in accordance with the constitution,” General Secretary Sharma had conveyed to the party leader the views he had expressed to Deuba.”

General Secretary Sharma had also said that he would resign from his post if the party made any other decision without addressing the special general convention.

“If the Congress decides to operate in a different manner that is not in accordance with the constitution, I will resign as General Secretary with effect from the date of making that decision,” Sharma had told Deuba.

According to Congress leaders, General Secretary Sharma has already informed Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka about the views expressed to Deuba today.

Article 17(2) of the Congress Statute provides for a special general convention. There is a provision that a special general convention must be called if the Central Committee decides that a special general convention is necessary or if a demand is made by 40 percent of the general convention delegates.

Under this article of the statute, 54 percent of the general convention delegates have collected signatures and submitted them to Acting President Khadka. There is a provision to call a special general convention within 3 months of a written request.

Since a written demand for a special general convention was submitted on October 15, the three-month period will end on January 12.