Kathmandu, July 8

A section of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party told THT that party Chairman Kamal Thapa had made fulfilment of his personal ambition a precondition for supporting the constitution amendment bill.

RPP sources said Thapa today told Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba that he could support the constitution amendment bill only if he was given the rank of deputy prime minister in the government.

RPP sources said Thapa should not have made his personal ambition a precondition for supporting the bill.

“Thapa had assured the leaders and cadres of his party during its unity convention that he would stick to the party’s ideology, but today’s meeting has shown he continues to flip-flop on national issues,” the RPP source added. He also said Thapa should have either rejected the constitution amendment bill as the CPN-UML did, or supported it as some other parties have done.

The source said the government appeared to have mustered 388 lawmakers in favour of the constitution amendment bill, not sufficient to ensure its passage. In this situation, the agitating Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal was also not in favour of putting the bill to vote. “Our party should not back a bill that is bound to fail,” he added, “We should have clear stance on major political issues.”