The Rabi Lamichhane-led Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which emerged as the fourth largest party in the House of Representatives from the November 20 election, has witnessed an internal strife within months of the party’s establishment.

Some members of the party's Makwanpur district chapter have filed a complaint at the party’s central office against Raj Kumar Neupane, president of the district chapter, accusing him of helping a candidate from a rival party. They have demanded that the party sack him from the position.

The party members who filed the complaint have accused Neupane of arranging a meeting between the party’s Proportional Representation (PR) candidate Nurman Praja and Indra Baniya, the Nepali Congress candidate for the Makwanpur-2 (B) provincial assembly seat.

Neupane is alleged to have urged Praja to help Baniya in the election. Baniya, the Bagmati Province president of the Congress, contested and won the provincial seat. He is also projected as a contender for the chief minister position.

Neupane admitted to having met Baniya ahead of the election but denied the allegations of assisting Baniya later. “We happened to meet Indra Baniya during the campaign,” Neupane told the Post. "Some members of the party committee have made a bogus complaint against me just because we had had an encounter with Baniya, but I have not violated the party's discipline."

But the party’s FPTP candidate for the federal assembly in Makwanpur-2, Bharat Parajuli accused Neupane of taking Praja to Baniya’s house.

“Neupane had visited Baniya’s house along with the party’s PR candidate in the midst of the campaign,” Parajuli alleged. “Visiting the house of any party’s candidate when the campaign is underway cannot be taken as an ordinary meeting.”

Nurman Praja, the PR candidate of the RSP, also accused Neupane of taking him to Baniya’s house despite his reluctance. “Though I had refused to go there, district president Neupane took me to Baniya’s house, where Baniya had urged me to help his party in the provincial election,” Praja told the Post. “But I refused to help.”

Praja however claimed that he was unsure whether Neupane got any benefits by arranging the meeting with Baniya.

Neupane, however, denied the allegations and claimed that the party’s district members had ganged up against him. He reiterated that he has not gone against the party spirit. “I was asked by the party’s local committee to collect money from the local business committee for the campaign which I promptly rejected, and from that time some of the local committee members have ganged up against me.”

Baniya, on the other hand, denied that Praja visited his home. He argued that they might have met during the election campaign, but none of the other party members had ever visited him during the campaign. "RSP is a recently founded party. Its members might have indulged in a blame game in an attempt to pull someone down and uplift someone else," Baniya told the Post. “But I am not into such activities.”

Mukul Dhakal, the party spokesperson, confirmed a complaint was registered against Neupane. “Such things happen in a party’s life, we have taken it as normal,” Dhakal said. “Some members of the district chapter have lodged a complaint against Neupane. So a meeting of the party’s central committee will take a decision soon.”

But party members from other parts of the country have also lodged such complaints, says Dhakal. RSP fielded candidates in 131 of the total 165 federal constituencies but didn’t contest the provincial assembly seats.

Such mud-slinging between party leaders may upset a large section of society that seems to be quite optimistic about the new party’s success.

Within months of its establishment, the RSP has become the fourth largest party winning 7 federal seats in direct election. It is expecting around 14 seats from the proportional representation category.