In a sign of deepening feud in the royalist camp, a Central Executive Committee meeting of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party on Tuesday decided to take its campaign for the restoration of monarchy forward under party chair Rajendra Lingden.

On Monday, pro-Hindu state activists had formed a joint movement committee headed by 87-year-old Panchayat-era leader Nabaraj Subedi.

The RPP meeting held in Dhumbarahi, Kathmandu, also decided to convene a meeting of the Movement Mobilisation Main Committee on March 25 to announce additional protests.

While some RPP leaders remain in the Subedi-led group, the party decided to hold future events under Linden's leadership.

There was a division in the party over who leads the movement for the restoration of monarchy. Nepal’s Constituent Assembly in 2008 approved the major political parties’ decision to abolish the 240-year-old institution of monarchy.

While some RPP leaders decided to campaign under Subedi, the party meeting decided to spearhead the campaign by itself.

The Subedi-led group has demanded a new agreement with the republican forces. The group has RPP leaders Pashupati Shumshere Rana, Prakash Chandra Lohani, and Dhawal Shamsher Rana as members while party vice-chairman Rabindra Mishra has been named the member-secretary.

Although Lingden was also listed as a member of the group, he refused saying that he was not consulted about it.

“The coordinator of the committee himself has declared that one cannot remain in the committee while being affiliated to a political party. He has even announced to resign as an RPP member,” Lingden told the Post. “So how would a political person like me fit there?”

As party leaders remain divided over the name of the movement, concerns arise whether RPP is heading toward a split. However, Dhawal Shamsher Rana, a key member of the movement, denied the possibility.

"Our party remains united. There will be no split in it. The deadlock will end soon, and we will take the movement forward together," he asserted.

RPP spokesperson Mohan Shrestha said the official movement of the party will see all its leaders involved.

"They are free to join the movement led by Subedi, but ours is the movement officially led by the party," he said.

Subedi’s group enjoys the patronage of former king Gyanendra Shah. The Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal has also decided to support this group. The decision came from the Central Executive Committee meeting of the RPP-Nepal on Tuesday.