KATHMANDU: Voices are emerging within the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) calling for party chair Rabi Lamichhane to step down while he remains in Nakkhu Jail facing a cooperative fraud case.
During a central committee meeting on Tuesday, a proposal was raised that Lamichhane should relinquish his position until the legal proceedings related to the cooperative scam are concluded.
The proposal came from provincial chairpersons attending the meeting at the party’s central office in Chha:mati. Leaders who voiced this included Prakash Bista (Sudurpashchim), Sarin Tamang (Koshi), Devaraj Pathak (Lumbini), and Rajan Gautam (Gandaki). Representatives from the other three provinces reportedly remained silent on the issue.
The four leaders argued that Lamichhane should only resume his duties as party chief once the cases across five districts are resolved. One participant noted that the provincial chairpersons, who are ex-officio central committee members, raised the matter as a political proposal during the discussion.
The meeting also revisited Lamichhane’s controversial release from Nakkhu Jail on September 9, during which he allegedly obtained release using fake documents amid protests by the Gen-Z movement. Lamichhane is currently back in custody at Nakkhu Jail in connection with the Supreme Cooperative fraud case in Butwal.
Party spokesperson Manish Jha acknowledged that the decision to escort Lamichhane out of jail at that time was a serious error, which has been publicly admitted, and emphasized that he must now face the legal process.
Lamichhane continues to face multiple legal cases, including charges of cooperative fraud and organized crime.
The central committee meeting on Tuesday covered seven agenda points, including:
- Current political situation and meeting overview
- Reports from provincial meetings by chairpersons
- Central committee members’ positions in the changed context
- Party organization and department matters
- Strategies for upcoming House of Representatives elections
- Historical party convention matters
- Miscellaneous issues
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