The months-long internal row in the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) was resolved on Saturday after incumbent Chairman Pashupati SJB Rana handed over the post to party’s senior leader and former prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

At a Central Working Committee meet on Saturday, Rana passed on the baton to Chand as per the agreement—to rotate the leadership—among the senior leaders on November 19. Chand will be at the party helm as the RPP chair at least for another eight months before making way for Rana to lead the party for another eight months. The next in line for the hot chair is another senior leader Prakash Chandra Lohani, who will hold the party’s general convention that will elect the new leadership for next four years.

RPP spokesperson Thakur Sharma said the tenure of all three leaders will depend on the party general convention. The convention is scheduled to take place within 2 years, but the CWC can extend the tenure for a year if needed. According to Sharma, each of the three leaders will have a tenure of eight months to a year.

The Chand faction had been angered after former RPP chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa handed over the leadership to Rana. Thapa, who had earlier led the Rastriya Janashakti Party, was elected the RPP chairman after the two parties united in May 2013. It was agreed at the time that the party’s leadership would be run on rota basis. Chand was supposed to lead the RPP after Thapa, but the latter instead picked Rana, much to the chagrin of Chand and his supporters.

On September 7, a majority of the RPP central committee members had dissented against Rana, and elected Chand as the party’s new party chair. Sixty-one out of 103 central committee members, who had participated in the election, submitted their decision at the Election Commission (EC), requesting that Chand be recognised as the legitimate RPP chairman. “All the differences have now been resolved,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the RPP leadership has expressed its dissatisfaction over the performance of the incumbent KP Sharma Oli-led government. During the CWC meeting, a majority of central leaders criticised the government for failing to resolve the Tarai crisis and provide relief to the earthquake victims. “Not only has the government failed to meet people’s aspirations, but its activities has also angered them,” Sharma quoted Rana as saying. Chand labelled the government as “defunct”.  

The CWC concludes on Sunday after evaluating the party’s performance and the present crisis in the country. It is also likely to nominate a minister. Of the two ministries allocated to the RPP in the Oli government, Deepak Bohara has taken the helm of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Jayanta, son of newly-appointed Chairman Chand, is likely to assume to Ministry of Commerce within a week.