Leaders of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) have said the party is considering withdrawing its support to the KP Oli government and launch a protest programme after the Chhath festival.

The party has recently decided to hand over another memorandum to the prime minister Oli, demanding the government to amend the constitution, ensure oath to lawmaker elect Resham Chaudhary and withdrawal of all the ‘fake’ cases filed against the party leaders and cadres during the Madhes movement.

On Friday, the party had directed all its district committees to hand over memorandum to their respective Chief District Officers on Monday raising the issues of black marketeering on essential goods, increasing inflation, unemployment, insecurity, among other social issues.

The RJP-N had extended its support to the Oli government besides the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal.

Despite supporting the government, RJP-N lawmakers have been sitting at the opposition row in both the Houses of Parliament.

Leaders in the RJP-N’s six-member presidium have been warning the government that the party would first withdraw its support to the government and begin a protest programme to press for addressing their concerns.

“The party leaders are under pressure from the cadres to justify its move to support the government. Therefore the party is preparing to withdraw its support,” said party General Secretary Keshav Jha.

The government has been ignoring the major concerns of the party though PM Oli has assured the RJP-N leaders to address them all. The top leaders had handed over a similar memorandum to the PM earlier.

Rajendra Mahato, a leader in the party presidium, said the party would launch the protest programme after the festivals unless the government did not address the concerns.

Despite voting in favour of Oli, some leaders claimed the party had never supported the government and its activities. Most of the times, the RJP-N has been criticising the government’s move.

“Announcement to withdraw its support to the government would mean that the party has no trust in Prime Minister Oli,” RJP-N leader Brikhesh Chandra Lal said.

As the government enjoying a two-thirds majority with the SSF-N, withdrawal of the RJP-N support would be insignificant in terms of number. However, the RJP-N’s move can have a deeper political meaning as the party is popular in Madhes and the federal government cannot ignore its issues.

Similarly, the party has also decided to launch a three-week-long campaign beginning October 10 to exchange greetings of Dashain, Deepawali and Chhath festivals and started distributing both general and active memberships to expand its base.