A seven-point agreement reached between Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chair Rabi Lamichhane and Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah after overnight talks has left Ujyalo Nepal Party’s patron Kulman Ghising out of the arrangement.

The agreement, finalised at around 4am on Sunday, makes no mention of Ghising. According to meeting sources, he had already left the venue during the night while discussions between Lamichhane and Shah were still ongoing.

Ghising left the trilateral meeting with Lamichhane and Shah after it could not make any headway despite their marathon meeting that lasted for hours.

In recent days, Mayor Shah had been pushing for a modality that would include Ghising as well. However, the Ujyalo Nepal Party’s central committee on Saturday rejected a proposal to unite alternative political forces with Lamichhane as party chair and Shah as the prime ministerial candidate.

Following that decision, Shah and Ghising held a separate one-on-one meeting at Baluwatar on Saturday evening. “They held talks from around 7pm, but we do not know what was discussed between the two,” said Dr Abhishek Singh, a central committee member of Ujyalo Nepal Party who has been in contact with both RSP and Shah, while speaking to the Post.

Leaders close to Ghising said he was seeking a dignified and meaningful role in any broader alliance. RSP leaders, who had earlier held repeated discussions to bring Ghising into the party when Lamichhane was in jail, were this time inclined to move ahead with an understanding limited to Shah.

Shah’s side, however, had reportedly proposed bringing Ghising and the Gen Z group together. “We had already spoken to Kulman earlier. It is possible to talk again later,” a RSP leader said.

After Bibeksheel Sajha Party’s merger with RSP, Shah met Ghising on November 30. Leaders close to Ghising said Shah had then assured him of support by joining the Ujyalo Nepal Party, after which Ghising shared a photo of the two on social media, saying they were together in a campaign to build the country.

Ghising later expressed dissatisfaction after Shah moved towards reaching a separate understanding with RSP. Shah met Ghising again on Saturday morning and later cancelled a planned trip to Pokhara to continue talks in Baluwatar.

Despite being left out of the current RSP–Shah agreement, leaders of Ujyalo Nepal Party say there is still strong sentiment within the party for uniting alternative political forces.