Nepal's new RPP Prez Rajendra Lingden blames deposed king for 'decades of misgovernance'

Nepal Rastriya Prajanatantra Party (RPP) on Sunday elected its new president Rajendra Prasad Lingden at the outfit's General Convention. Lingden secured 1,844 defeating RPP's incumbent president Kamal Thapa, who amassed 1,617 votes at the party's election, PTI reported. An elected Member of Parliament from Jhapa district, he defeated Nepal Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula in the 2017 elections. On the other hand, Thapa, who is the former Prime Minister of Nepal, took to Twitter to congratulate Lingden on this victory extending his best wishes.

Thapa lost control of Rastriya Prajatantra Party after leading it for decades, claimed Rajendra Lingden who blamed deposed king Gyanendra for interrupting party elections leading to his predecessor's defeat. He also claimed Thapa was responsible for 'decades of misgovernance' which led to the party's failure in the country.
 

On the sidelines of choosing the new president of RPP (Rastriya Prajatantra Party), the pro-Hindu party of Nepal also voted Bikram Pandey, Buddin Man Tamang and Dhruva Bahadur Pradhan to the vice-chairs. Roshan Karki was elected as the vice-chair under the women's quota. Additionally, Dhawal Shumsher Rana was also elected as the general secretary alongside Bhuvan Pathak with 2,221 votes and 1,805 votes, respectively. While Rana is from Lingden's panel, Pathak has been chosen from Thapa's panel. Under the women category for general-secretary, Kunti Shahi was elected with 2,008 beating popular Kollywood actor Rekha Thapa.

It is pertinent to mention, Rajendra Lingden was also backed by youth leaders of the party, Kathmandu Post reported. “Actually we youths wanted a change in the leadership of Kamal Thapa as our party will have no future under his leadership,” Faniraj Lohani, a candidate for a central member, told the Post. He also added that the party has decided to fight the upcoming elections with a separate panel headed by Lingden as most pro-Hindu and pro-monarchy organisations have assured support to RPP "only if Lingden take the lead."

Thapa blames former Nepal king for defeat

Although Thapa (68) conceded his defeat respecting the democratic norms and values of the party, as reported by Kathmandu Post, he blamed Nepal's former King Gyanendra Shah for his loss. In a series of Tweets, Thapa accused Nirwal Niwas, which is the former King's residence, of "naked intervention" in the party's general convention. Notably, Thapa lost the party polls although most of his office bearers won from his panel.

(With inputs from PTI, Image: Twitter/ANI)