KATHMANDU: Former Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand on Saturday took over the leadership of Rastriya Prajatantra Party from Pashupati Shumsher Rana, ending the years-long conflict between them.

At the party central committee meeting in the Capital today, Rana handed over the party reign to Chand.

In November, Chand and Rana had agreed to run the party in the rotational leadership system as agreed in the convention organised to merge the RPP, then led by Rana, and the then Rastriya Janashakti Party, led by Surya Bahadur Thapa.

Chand and Rana were at odds since the then party Chairman  Thapa handed over the leadership to Rana.

Chand had claimed that Thapa and Rana breached the agreement of rotational leadership made during the RPP-RJP unification.

The veteran leader had argued that an agreement was made to handover the leadership to him after Thapa, before Rana and another RPP leader Prakash Chandra Lohani would lead the party in rotation.

Whereas Rana was the official Chairman as per the records at the Election Commission, Chand had garnered support of majority central committee members and claimed himself to be the authorised party boss.

The Chand faction had even applied for official recognition at the Commission.

The dispute, however, was resolved in November after both the leaders agreeing on the rotational mode for the same.

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According to the agreement, Chand would handover the leadership back to Rana after completion of his tenure.

Similarly, Rana would pass the chairmanship to Lohani and the latter would be assigned to hold the party’s election for the fresh leadership.

The party has 12 seats in the Parliament, including three directly elected and nine under the proportional representation system.