The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has once again defended Deputy Speaker Indira Rana, who has landed in a controversy over requesting in writing the US Embassy for visa interview dates.

The party has accused the ruling parties of trying to scandalise the “trivial” issue with a malafide intention to unseat her.

A central committee meeting of the RSP on Thursday concluded that the coalition of the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress, which is in minority in the Constitutional Council, wanted to remove Rana and get a lawmaker from their parties to replace her. Besides the roles in the legislature, the Deputy Speaker is also a member of the Council that elects chiefs and members of constitutional bodies and the chief justice.

The chief justice, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the National Assembly chair, the leader of the main opposition in the House and the Deputy Speaker are members of the Constitutional Council, which is headed by the prime minister.

The UML, which now leads the coalition government involving the Congress and some fringe parties, has two seats in the Constitutional Council. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and House Speaker Devraj Ghimire are from the second-largest party. (Though a Speaker resigns from all party positions after being appointed to lead the House, s/he hardly is aloof from their party in practice as they mostly rejoin it after the completion of the tenure). The CPN (Maoist Centre) is as strong as the UML in the council. Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as the leader of the opposition, and National Assembly chair Narayan Prasad Dahal are members of the Council.

If Deputy Speaker Rana resigns, then the ruling coalition can appoint a lawmaker from one of its components in her position and secure a majority in the Council, even if the chief justice stays neutral in constitutional appointments, RSP acting spokesperson Manish Jha said. That the ruling parties had blown the issue out of proportion 18 months after the letter addressed to the embassy made it clear that it was politically motivated, he claimed.

Deputy Speaker Rana on February 26 last year wrote a letter to the US Embassy, requesting visa interviews for herself and five others. She faces pressure to quit, after the letter was leaked recently.

She requested the embassy to arrange interview dates for six people, including herself. Dipendra Gautam, Sushma Lama, Rajesh Lama Tamang, Sujan Magar, and Dhan Prasad Gurung were the other people named in the letter.

Rana had written that she wanted the interview dates to be preponed as they were attending the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, scheduled to be held in New York from March 6 to 17, 2023.

Experts and retired parliamentary officials criticised her for corresponding with diplomatic agencies without informing the Parliament Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After the central committee meeting on Thursday, RSP officials tried to downplay the issue saying that their inquiry had found that the letter hadn’t been registered at the US Embassy in Kathmandu.

“The letter has not been registered at the embassy. Nor do we have the evidence of any financial dealings,” said Jha.

On July 21, RSP lawmaker Sumana Shrestha, defending Rana in Parliament, said that a media trial was underway to assassinate the character of the Deputy Speaker.

Shrestha had said they were ready to leave the post if the ruling parties asked for it. “If you need a seat on the Constitutional Council, ask for it. But a woman’s character should not be assassinated in this manner,” Shrestha had said.

After the central committee meeting on Thursday, Jha said allegations against Deputy Speaker Rana were discussed in the central committee.

“We challenge the other parties to prove that the letter was registered at the Embassy,” Jha told the Post. “During our informal investigation, we found that no recommendation letter by Rana was registered at the US Embassy.”

He added that the letter was dated 18 months ago, and no one was found to have taken any benefits from the recommendation. Her intentions were not wrong, Jha said.

Since the deputy Speaker is no longer a member of the party, RSP was not in a position to make any organisational decision related to her, he added.

“Complaints against her have been filed to the Parliament Secretariat and the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the legislature. Our party will form an opinion if needed based on the decision they make.”

The party meeting also reached a decision to form a panel under the discipline committee to review all allegations the party faces. The meeting decided to form an 11-member statute amendment recommendation committee led by acting RSP General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti.