Fifty years after it was set up, the Nepali Congress is closer today to a formal split than it has ever been. But it speaks for the hidden resilience of this fractious party that people still haven't given up on a last-minute patch-up. This time, however, the bad blood runs too deep. And unity, even if it is forged, may not last beyond the day the tickets for the November elections are announced. The root of the crisis has always been the party's inability to sort out its inter-generational power transfer. The Young Turks are imaptient, the septuagenarian leaders are unwilling to let go, and both have powerful cronies. A party split, however, would collectively hurt all sides: the good the bad and the ugly. Ex-Lt Col Narayan Singh Pun and close Deuba supporter has already registered a party (tentatively called the Nepal Samanta Party). This could be Deuba's Plan B, but Pun says the independent party is his own idea.