Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane has said that talks on the party’s return to government can start only after there is clarity in the ruling coalition.
RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden opined that the RSP should rejoin the government during the ruling coalition’s high-level coordinating committee meeting in Baluwatar on Sunday.
The top leaders of the coalition, including Prime Minister (PM) and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman and Committee Coordinator KP Sharma Oli, Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman, Rabbi Lamichhane, and RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden attended the meeting to discuss contemporary politics.
Lamichhane in response said that there should be clarity on the direction of the coalition and an end to suspicions between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center) before then.
“We should look at everything as a whole. There must be an atmosphere of trust between all of you. ‘I said that the question of whether or not to join the government will only come up when we finish everything, including the discussions on the presidential election, and we finish the by-election,’” Lamichhane told Setopati about this response. “The issue of participating in the government is not on our agenda right now. We recently left the government.”
RSP resigned from the government on February 5 after Prime Minister Dahal refused to hand over the Home Ministry to the party after Lamichhane regained Nepali citizenship as the Supreme Court (SC) found that Lamichhane, who was elected to the Chitwan House of Representatives (HoR) 2, was ineligible to become a legislator.
“What will be the general direction of the coalition? What is the status of the Common Minimum Programs? What was the spirit? That has not been seen now. It seems that there are differences on the presidential election. We are not sure if we are together or not. We can talk about (joining the government) if we get to the right track all things considered, as there seems to be some gap. But why we should come or not come is not important,” Lamichhane explained.
“Why was the coalition formed? On what commitments was it based? And why have questions been raised about it now? Why have different things emerged? Let’s go over that. And then we can go smoothly. We will go if they say we can deliver.”
Lamichhane also demanded by-election in Chitwan 2.
Lamichhane revealed that Prime Minister Dahal said at the meeting that he was discussing with the Election Commission and that the by-election will take place as soon as possible.
