Valley
Thapa-led RPP decides to pull support from govt
Two days after the faction led by Pashupati Shumsher Rana broke off, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party headed by Kamal Thapa on Tuesday decided to withdraw its support to the government.Two days after the faction led by Pashupati Shumsher Rana broke off, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party headed by Kamal Thapa on Tuesday decided to withdraw its support to the government. The unified RPP with 37 seats had voted for Sher Bahadur Deuba in the PM election on June 6.
With Pashupati Shumsher Rana forming the RPP (Prajatantrik), together with 19 lawmakers, the RPP now has 18 MPs. The government, however, will continue to enjoy a comfortable majority. The ruling alliance with 395 lawmakers will have 377 MPs after the RPP pulls out.
Organising a press meet in the Capital on Tuesday, Thapa charged the government with causing a split in the party. It also accused the government of not trying to address the concerns of the dissident Madhesi parties and of promoting corruption. The party in the last week of July had decided not to join the government after the ruling alliance failed to allocate it at least four ministries including a deputy prime minister.
The RPP led by Rana and Thapa’a RPP-Nepal had merged in November last year to form the RPP. Rana’s faction then had 12 lawmakers. Thapa claimed that the Rana faction does not have the support of 40 percent Central Working Committee members needed to retain lawmakers who left the original party.
On March 29, Prakash Chandra Lohani parted ways citing differences with Thapa on the election symbol and the issue of monarchy.