Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 20:

Local-level leaders of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) are expected to hail the royal move by issuing a joint statement tomorrow. The move welcoming the royal step comes in the wake of a number of former ministers welcoming the same in the recent past.

The fact that the party must back the move comes at the end of a meeting which was held at the office of the Kathmandu unit of the party.

Sources said the number of district unit chiefs of the party who wanted to back the royal move adds up to 40. Present at the meeting were the chiefs of the district units among other party workers who are keen to support the King.

Sources in the party said present at the meeting were party chiefs of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Dolakha, Syangja, Makwanpur and Gorkha units of the party, among others.

The decision of the local leaders comes in the wake of the growing demand within the Rastriya Prajatantra Party to back the royal move. RPP vice-chairman Padma Sundar Lawoti and nearly all the members of the party’s central committee have been lobbying for an immediate meeting of the party’s central committee to debate and endorse the royal move. However, party president Pashupati Shumshere Rana has time again issued a call to the party workers to have patience before telling the party leadership to support the royal move.

Meanwhile, Rana is coming under pressure to convene the meeting since many in the party look into the royal move as a beneficial development.

Among others, the party leaders look into the latest event as an opportunity to join the government and consolidate the base of the party.