Kathmandu, July 17

In a bid to resolve the internal conflict that has recently plagued the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the party leadership is reportedly making attempts to convince its senior leader Pashupati Shumsher Rana, who has taken serious exception to party Chairman Kamal Thapa’s recent decision to nominate 42 members to the party’s central working committee.

It is said Thapa has offered the disgruntled leader a say in the nomination of the remaining 11 members of the committee.

“We are working to resolve the differences between Chairman Thapa and senior party leader Rana,” said RPP spokesperson Bhuban Pathak. He added that the party’s next central working committee meeting slated for tomorrow would discuss nominations of the remaining committee members.

He also said the party leadership was ready to discuss the issue of the party’s election symbol. Rana has been demanding that the party use the plough as the unified party’s election symbol, instead of cow, the current one.

Thakur Prasad Sharma, a party leader, said the row was unnecessary and it would only weaken the party. He ruled out any chance of a party split, adding that efforts were under way to sort out differences.

Another RPP leader Dil Nath Giri  claimed that it was not party Chairman Thapa’s fault that he nominated the central working committee members as Thapa had only exercised his prerogative as party chairman, provided by the party’s statute.

Rana, however, claimed that the party chairman did not consult him before taking the decision, prompting him to issue a press statement to express his concern.

“Yes, the party statute has given the party chairman the right to nominate members to the committee, but that does not mean the chairman can do anything without consultation in the party,” Rana told THT.

He also claimed that Surya Bahadur Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand and himself, while they were at helm of the party, never took any decision unilaterally.

He expressed the view that a party chairman should be sensitive while taking any decision, especially when two parties had recently unified.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party has called its central working committee meeting for July 19 to review the party’s performance in the first and second phases of local level elections and work on a strategy for the third phase of elections. The meeting is also set to discuss various contemporary issues.