In an escalation, RSP suspends Dhakal as general secretary

As the rift between Rastriya Swatantra Party chairman Rabi Lamichhane and general secretary Mukul Dhakal widens, the party suspended Dhakal for a week on Wednesday evening on disciplinary grounds.

The party’s Central Committee took its decision just hours after the Disciplinary Committee concluded that Dhakal had violated party discipline with his recent criticism of Lamichhane.

Kabindra Burlakoti, the deputy general secretary, has been made acting general secretary following the party’s decision, according to Manish Jha, an RSP MP and joint spokesperson. Jha has also been promoted to acting spokesperson as Dhakal remains suspended pending an inquiry into his conduct.

Meanwhile, the Disciplinary Committee will submit a detailed report on the issue. Further decisions on Dhakal will be taken as per the suggestions in the report, said Santosh Pariyar, party leader.

Dhakal was sharply critical of the party’s recent activities in the media last week, citing the report of a nationwide consultation he led after the by-elections in April.

In his proposal based on his evaluation report, Dhakal demanded, among other things, that the RSP should grow beyond its perceived image as Rabi Lamichhane’s party.

Dhakal submitted his report to Lamichhane and concluded that the party was heading for a downfall and that radical steps were needed to avert disaster. He had prepared the report after touring 38 districts and speaking to over 2,000 people on behalf of the party secretariat. In the report, submitted to the party’s central committee on Wednesday, Dhakal blames Lamichhane for the setbacks suffered by the party.

Most of the RSP leaders who spoke at the meeting had demanded Dhakal’s suspension as the party’s general secretary.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Dhakal accused the party leadership of forcing him to speak at the meeting as a symbolic protest, even though he himself was present wearing a face mask with a black cross.

He said the party chairman and vice presidents had already stated that they would no longer accept him as general secretary.

Dhakal also argued that the RSP, which would soon become the opposition party in Parliament due to the government being reduced to a majority, was losing its moral basis to oppose any wrongdoing.

“If this party has acted against me only because of my protests (against party leaders), how can the same party act against the government’s misdeeds?” he told reporters as he left the meeting hall. “I am worried about this party.”

He accused Lamichhane of always trying to evade his responsibilities, no matter what position he holds.

Dhakal said when Lamichhane was the managing director of Gorkha Media Network, he used to blame all the wrongdoings on chairman GB Rai, the company that operated the now-defunct Galaxy 4K television. “Now, as the party president, he is blaming the general secretary for mistakes. It seems that in his position, one never commits a mistake,” Dhakal told reporters at the venue.

Both Rai and Lamichhane have been accused of embezzling millions of rupees from various cooperative societies while working for the television channel. However, Lamichhane pretends to be unaware of the company’s financial transactions and claims that such transactions were carried out by Rai.

Lamichhane and Dhakal joined forces to build a hospital in Raskot, Humla, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Later, in early 2022, when former TV presenter Lamichhane founded the RSP, Dhakal, a doctor by profession, was given the party’s key job as general secretary.

Since the party’s inception, Dhakal, a cancer survivor, has been a key member of Lamichhane’s team and has had a huge influence on the party’s policy decisions, but the relationship is no longer the same.

“Respected President, you should answer questions about all your deeds based on your record after entering politics. Let us form a subcommittee of this Central Committee to document these deeds. I do not care what others say, but I do what you do. When will you do what you said? I need a time frame,” Dhakal wrote in the proposal he had prepared and was to present at the Central Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Dhakal publicly criticised Lamichhane in a social media message after party leader Lamichhane did not allow him to present the proposal he had prepared on the basis of the inspection trip at the Central Committee meeting.

“During the party secretariat meeting yesterday (Tuesday), I was told to submit a proposal based on the audit report,” Dhakal said. “I had prepared the written proposal but the party president did not allow me to submit it today.”

He was also promised that he would be allowed to express his thoughts during the Central Committee meeting. “However, the party chairman did not allow me to do so,” Dhakal claims in his message.

The audit report prepared by Dhakal was described as an incomplete document at the Central Committee meeting.

A party leader said most members of the party’s central committee considered Dhakal’s report incomplete.

“During the discussion on the report, most of the Central Committee members have claimed that the inquiry report is an incomplete document,” Hari Dhakal, a party lawmaker, told the Post. “The document does not reflect the actual reality of the party. Therefore, many of our friends who have commented on the report have called it incomplete.”

Shortly after Ilam’s defeat in the by-election in April this year, the party secretariat decided at a meeting on May 3 to conduct a nationwide demonstration tour by a team led by Dhakal.

In his policy document, written after a tour during which he spoke to more than 2,000 people, the RSP general secretary claimed that the party was heading for a downfall unless it corrected its mistakes. He also suggested that the party should work with emerging figures like Balendra Shah, the independent mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and Gopi Hamal, another independent mayor of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, to justify the party’s existence. He was against the party entering into alliances with traditional parties and their leaders.

Before handing over the investigation report to the party leader on June 26, Dhakal released the key findings to the media. This too was criticised at the meeting.

After submitting his report to President Lamichhane, Dhakal also requested a live broadcast of the Central Committee meeting during which the inquiry report was discussed. However, his proposal was rejected on the grounds that an overwhelming majority of the Central Committee was against the idea.

“Joint general secretary Kabindra Burlakoti submitted the inquiry report prepared by Dhakal to the party’s central committee after Dhakal refused to do so,” said Jha, the party’s joint spokesperson. “When the majority of the central committee members rejected the demand, Dhakal termed it a violation of his freedom of expression.”

After Burlakoti read the report at the meeting, it was described as incomplete.

Jha says that while it is questionable whether Dhakal’s report can be put into practice, it is not entirely wrong.

“His actions are more questionable than the report itself,” Jha told the Post. “He played a questionable role by giving different versions of his report to the media and the party leader.”

Instead of answering the questions posed against him in the Central Committee, Dhakal walked out of the meeting and accused the party of harassing him, Jha added.

At the meeting, Dhakal was also criticised for sharing his observations with the media before they were discussed in the party, MP Hari Dhakal added. “The inquiry report concerns the party strategy, which should not have been released to the media before it was discussed in the party.”

The party’s disciplinary committee even asked Dhakal for clarification on June 28.

Dhakal, however, refused to give any clarification, citing the party constitution. In his application to Lamichhane on Wednesday, Dhakal explained why he was not accountable to the disciplinary committee.

“Subsection 3 (3) of clause 24 of the party constitution lists the powers of the general secretary. As per the party constitution, the general secretary can issue directions to the party committees,” Dhakal said, adding that such a committee cannot seek clarification from him.

The letter continued: “Following the decision of the Party Secretariat, you have been presented with the verification report that I prepared as General Secretary after my tour of 38 districts. The report contains what I saw during my tour of the country and what people told me about the party.

“I have tried to accurately reflect the voice of the people here. If the (party’s) interpretation of the report were to deviate from the will of the people, that would be a serious mistake.”