RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden has commented that Senior Vice-chairman Rabindra Mishra has yet to understand the party.
Lingden has said so answering a question by Raju Thapa in a talk show on Avenues Television about the instruction issued by the party’s steering committee including Prakash Chandra Lohani and Mishra to call back RPP lawmaker from the post of Koshi speaker.
“What has Rabindra Mishra understood about RPP? He came just days earlier. What has he understood RPP? He has yet to understand RPP. He has just arrived. It’s just a year or a year and a half. He said what he felt about whether to join the government was right or not, become speaker of the provincial assembly right or not.”
Ambar Bahadur Bista, who was elected lawmaker on an RPP ticket, was elected speaker of Koshi on January 9. The steering committee chaired by Lohani and including Mishra had instructed the party leadership to withdraw Bista’s candidacy as the election process was going on.
But the party has yet to formally discuss the issue even though RPP leaders have been speaking in the media about whether the issue should be discussed in the party or not.
“I appointed the steering committee chairman issuing a letter. Can the steering committee chairman be above the party chairman elected by the general convention to instruct?” Lingden has asked. “I have already said even in another television. The statute has clearly stated, the steering committee will remain as advisor. That is a body to advise about going to the government and political appointments.”
He has added that the central committee can seek advice from the steering committee about whether to join the government if it deems necessary. “That is a body to give advice convening a meeting if the central committee were to seek advice from the steering committee. That is not a body to issue instruction,” he has stressed. “That is a body to advise even though its name is steering committee. It is clear in the statute.”
