Rastriya Swatantra Party Forms Federal Leadership Forum to Accommodate Leaders from Other Parties
News Summary
Edited and reviewed.
- The Rastriya Swatantra Party (Raswapa) has established a Federal Leadership Forum to accommodate leaders who joined from other parties.
- The Federal Leadership Forum is not recognized under Raswapa’s party statute and will be dissolved after the upcoming general convention.
- The forum currently includes 25 members, but their roles and authority have not been defined.
April 21, Kathmandu – The Rastriya Swatantra Party (Raswapa) has formed an interim party structure. The Federal Leadership Forum has been created to accommodate individuals who have joined Raswapa from other parties but were unable to secure positions in the central committee.
Leaders say this forum includes leaders and activists who recently joined Raswapa from different parties. The formation of the Federal Leadership Forum is based on a concept presented by Vice-Chair Dr. Swarnim Wagle.
Spokesperson Manish Jha stated that this forum has been formed as a temporary structure until the party’s general convention. It offers an alternative way to integrate leaders from other parties into a central-level body within Raswapa. The forum is intended to be dissolved after the convention.
The Federal Leadership Forum is not officially recognized by Raswapa’s statute. According to the party’s rules, eight central structures exist, including the national general convention, central council, central committee, advisory council, disciplinary commission, election commission, audit, and departments. The Federal Leadership Forum has been created outside these prescribed structures.
The forum initially started as a separate structure to group leaders who joined from the Bibeksheel Sajha Party. After unification with the Bibeksheel Sajha Party, 17 leaders from that party were placed in the Federal Leadership Forum.
Included in the forum were Smiresh Basokota, Prakash Chandra Pariyar, Bimala Adhikari, Ranju Darshana, Pavitra Thapa, Bimal Tamang, Samudra KC, Damodar Nepal, Ashutosh Pradhan, Navaraj Thapa, Suraj Pradhan, Dhanej Thapa, Sudan Shrestha, Ajit Khaadka, Rustam Ansari, Sushil Shah, and Sheetal Bhusal.
Following the unification, seven of these 17 leaders were later integrated into Raswapa’s central committee. Former Bibeksheel Sajha leaders Smrish Basokota, Prakash Chandra Pariyar, Ranju Darshana, Suraj Pradhan, Navaraj Thapa, Ashutosh Pradhan, and Dhanej Thapa currently serve as Raswapa central members. The remaining 10 former Bibeksheel Sajha leaders remain part of the Federal Leadership Forum.
Despite the breakdown of the alliance with Raswapa, some central members from the Ujyaalo Nepal Party affiliated with Raswapa have also been nominated to the Federal Leadership Forum. Among them are Dr. Vishal Bhandari, Nirdesh Silwal, Dr. Tara Joshi, Dr. Shankar Dhakal, Rima Bishwakarma, Sanjiv Bhattarai, and others. Two of them hold parliamentary positions: Joshi won a direct election from Dadeldhura, and Bishwakarma is a proportional representation lawmaker.
On Monday, Raswapa further expanded the Federal Leadership Forum. During a central committee meeting, eight additional members were nominated: Tulsi Prasad Chaudhary, Ramsingh Tharu, Jeevan Dhami, Harisharan Acharya, Prema Chaudhary, Navaraj Rana, Rajendra Bahadur Adhikari, and Ekaraj Chaudhary. This third expansion brought the total size of the forum to 25 members.
Although the Federal Leadership Forum has been formed, the roles, duties, and rights of its members have not yet been defined.
One member of the forum remarked, ‘We have been told that this forum ranks below central members in terms of status and responsibility. However, the exact tasks the forum will undertake have not been decided. So far, not even one meeting has been held.’
Party leadership has not yet engaged in discussions with the forum’s leaders.
According to Spokesperson Jha, members of the Federal Leadership Forum can be invited as special invitees to central committee meetings to provide advice and suggestions. He explained, ‘As long as the general convention has not been conducted, this arrangement remains temporary. Only those who compete and win at the convention can become central members; those who lose are excluded.’
The Raswapa statute provides for a 129-member central committee. Even after the unification with Balen Shah’s faction, the central committee has not been fully established. Currently, including leaders from Balen Shah and former Bibeksheel factions, the Raswapa central committee has 92 members.
Spokesperson Jha said the Federal Leadership Forum was formed as an alternative solution because it was not possible to include all leaders from other parties within the central committee.