Rastriya Swatantra Party General Secretary Mukul Dhakal was suspended by the party on Wednesday night due to disciplinary issues, as the breach between Lamichhane and Dhakal deepens.
The decision was taken by the party’s central committee just hours after the disciplinary tribunal found that Dhakal’s most recent criticism of Lamichhane had breached party rules.Kabindra Burlakoti, the deputy general secretary, has been given the charge of acting general secretary following the party’s decision, according to Manish Jha, an RSP lawmaker and joint spokesman. Jha has also been elevated to acting spokesperson as Dhakal remains suspended for an investigation into his conduct. Meanwhile, the disciplinary commission will come up with a detailed report on the issue. Further decisions on Dhakal will be taken as suggested by the report, said Santosh Pariyar, chief whip of the party.
Dhakal last week came out in the media with a fierce criticism of the party’s recent activities, citing the report of a nationwide consultation he led following the April by-elections. Dhakal, in his proposal based on his assessment report, demanded that the RSP should grow bigger than its perceived image of the party of Rabi Lamichhane, among other things. Dhakal submitted his report to Lamichhane with a conclusion that the party was headed for an accident and that some radical steps are needed to avert a disaster. He had prepared the report after touring 38 districts and interacting with over 2,000 people as tasked by the party’s secretariat. In the report tabled in the party’s central committee on Wednesday, Dhakal blames Lamichhane for the backlashes the party has suffered. Most of the RSP leaders speaking at the meeting had demanded Dhakal’s suspension as the party general secretary.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Dhakal accused the party leaders of coercing him into speaking at the meeting even as he attended it wearing a face mask with a black cross, in a symbolic protest. He said the party president and vice-presidents had already said they wouldn’t accept him as the general secretary anymore. Dhakal also argued that the RSP, which would soon be an opposition party in the House with the government reduced to a majority, was losing its moral ground to oppose any wrongdoings. “As this party has taken action against me merely for protesting [against party leaders], how can the same party oppose the wrongdoings of the government?” he told journalists as he stepped out of the meeting hall. “I am worried about this party.”
He accused Lamichhane of always trying to shirk his responsibility whatever position he held. Dhakal said when Lamichhane was the managing director of the Gorkha Media Network, he shifted the blame for all wrongdoings to Chairman GB Rai of the company that ran the now-shuttered Galaxy 4K television. “Now as the party chairman, he is blaming the general secretary for mistakes. It seems his position never commits a mistake,” Dhakal told journalists at the meeting venue. Both Rai and Lamichhane have been accused of embezzling millions of rupees from various cooperatives while running the television channel. Lamichhane, however, feigns ignorance about the company’s financial transactions saying that such deals were done by Rai.
Lamichhane and Dhakal came together to build a hospital in Raskot, Humla, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Later, in early 2022, when the former TV presenter Lamichhane established the RSP, Dhakal, a doctor by profession, got the party’s key responsibility of general secretary. Since the party’s establishment, Dhakal, a cancer survivor, has been working as a key member of Lamichhane’s team and has had a major say in the party’s political decisions. However, the relationship is no longer the same.
“Respected President, you should answer questions on all your acts based on the record after you entered politics. Let us form a subcommittee from this central committee to document those bids. I don’t care what others say, but I do what you do. When will you complete what you said? I need a timeframe,” Dhakal writes in the proposal prepared by him that he was supposed to present at the central committee meeting on Wednesday. Dhakal publicly criticised Lamichhane in a social media message after party chief Lamichhane did not allow him to present the proposal he prepared based on the review tour at the central committee meeting.
“During the party secretariat meeting yesterday [Tuesday], I was told to submit a proposal based on the review report,” Dhakal said. “I had prepared the written proposal, but the party president did not allow me to submit it today.” He said he was also promised that he would be allowed to share his thoughts during the central committee meeting. “However, the party president did not allow me to do so,” claims Dhakal in his message. The central committee meeting termed the review report prepared by Dhakal an incomplete document. A party leader said that most of the party’s central committee members termed Dhakal’s report incomplete.
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