Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane, addressing a two-day national conference of the party's central council that started on Tuesday, said that the emergence of the RSP has been a headache for Nepal’s traditional political parties.

“Until we win a majority in the next election, their headache will continue,” Lamichhane said. “Some people think that if Rabi Lamichhane is defeated, then the role of RSP in national politics will shrink. However, with or without Rabi, RSP now will move ahead as a campaign.”

At the national conference of central council members, all seven provincial committees presented their reports. In the process, some committees briefed the RSP on the financial difficulties they are facing to run their day-to-day activities, whereas others hinted at the challenges they are facing building the party organisation.

Party’s Koshi provincial president Rajesh Timilsina said there are 25,000 RSP cadres in the province. Due to irregular levy payments from cadres, it had been difficult to run the party.

“We now face the challenge in expanding the party’s membership base,” a party leader quoted Timilsina as saying. There were more people frustrated with the party’s activities than those attracted to it.

Timilsina also called for a regular financial source to carry out party activities, the leader said.

RSP provincial president for Madhesh Tapeshwar Yadav presented a report depicting the party in good light in the province. “If general elections were to be held now, our party would either lead the province or take the main opposition position,” a party insider told the Post, quoting Yadav.

Achyut Lamichhane, the provincial chief of Bagmati, claimed that the leadership had expanded the membership in Chitwan and Kathmandu by 7,000 and 5,000, respectively.

Party’s Lumbini committee chief Devraj Pathak, presenting the provincial report, said that a funds crunch had hampered the committee’s activities. In Karnali, the RSP is tackling geographical difficulties in welcoming more members to the party.

Sudurpaschim party chief also briefed the leadership on the difficulties the provincial committee is facing in expanding the membership, the party leaders said.

The financial report presented by RSP treasurer Lima Adhikari suggests that the party’s income totalled Rs34 million in the fiscal year 2023-2024. The amount includes membership fee, donations, sale of publicity materials, and interest on deposits, among other sources.

According to RSP leaders, at least 50 representatives expressed their opinions in the ‘open session’ on Tuesday. They suggested that the leadership should be protected from external attacks, and the party chair should be allowed to form a team so as to ease the party’s operation.

Vice-chair Swarnim Wagle presented a brief explanation on the ‘policy paper’ endorsed by the party’s Jaleshwar meeting last year.

Acting General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti presented a proposal for amending the party statute. Burlakoti proposes three vice-presidents and joint general secretaries, including a woman in each position.

Apart from the treasurer and spokesperson, all the office bearers are also proposed to be directly elected.

Though the party called its first national conference to discuss a wide array of issues, the report submitted by the parliamentary special probe committee on Monday dominated the discourse.

The report on crisis-ridden cooperatives, submitted to the government via the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also concerns the fate of RSP President Rabi Lamichhane. Though the report does not directly implicate Lamichhane in the cooperatives fraud, it links him to the spending of the money illegally sourced from multiple cooperatives.

The report also recommended prosecuting four individuals: Lamichhane, then-managing director of Gorkha Media Network; chairman Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai; board member Kumar Ramtel; and initial founder Chhabi Lal Joshi.

Lamichhane was accused of diverting funds from multiple cooperatives to run the media company that operated the Galaxy 4K Television channel, which ceased operations last year. Rai and Lamichhane co-founded and jointly ran the media company before Lamichhane joined politics in June 2022.

Lamichhane also claims to have held 15 percent of sweat shares in the company, which he sold after completing the legal procedure as he quit the television. However, the committee’s investigation found those claims to be false.

Denying his involvement in the cooperatives scam, Lamichhane and other RSP lawmakers attacked the Nepali Congress for its repeated stance that led to the parliamentary committee’s formation.

RSP leaders at the meeting tried to establish that Lamichhane had got a clean chit from the probe.

Before concluding the conference on Wednesday, Lamichhane will present his political report. This conference is also expected to schedule the party’s first general convention for May next year.