Kathmandu, Sept. 18 -- Many leaders who were once trusted aides of former Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba have defected to the establishment faction led by the incumbent party chief Gagan Thapa. They reached the Congress central office in Sanepa on Thursday to join the general convention process being led by Thapa.

What prompted Deuba's own trusted aides to leave his side was largely a matter of timing and shifting allegiance within the party. A factor was then-acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka's refusal to spearhead a split in the party and his decision to open dialogue with President Thapa. A large number of leaders, including Deuba's trusted aides, subsequently rallied behind Khadka. Those leaders have now been accomm...