Although Thapa had publicly announced to step down as the RPP chairman on May 29, he had later pushed the date to June 1. But when Thapa did not quit as he had committed, it was the final straw for the chairman-hopeful Chand.

Backed by his supporters, Chand reached the party headquarters in Chabahil on Monday and declared himself the new RPP chairman.

The leadership takeover transpired as per the agreement reached in May last year to appoint the party’s chairman from among the senior leaders on a rotational basis for one-year term each, Chand said. “I took the charge of party chairman to end the leadership void.”

After Thapa, the chairman-in-waiting was Chand, followed by Pashupati Shumsher Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani, respectively.

Thapa loyalists in the party have dubbed Chand’s takeover as illegal and demanded disciplinary action against him. Chand has called a meeting of the party’s central working committee for June 16.