In an escalation, RSP suspends Dhakal as general secretary

As the rift between Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and General Secretary Mukul Dhakal grows, the party on Wednesday night suspended Dhakal for a week over disciplinary concerns.

The party’s central committee made the decision hours after the disciplinary commission concluded that Dhakal had violated party discipline in his latest criticism of Lamichhane.

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 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.

“During the discussion on the report, most of the central committee members have claimed the review report is an incomplete document,” Hari Dhakal, a lawmaker of the party, told the Post. “The document fails to represent the actual reality of the party. Therefore, many of our friends who commented on the report have called it incomplete.”

Soon after the Ilam by-election loss in April this year, a secretariat meeting of the party on May 3 decided to conduct a nationwide review tour by a Dhakal-led team.

In his political document, prepared after a review tour when he interacted with more than 2,000 people, the RSP general secretary claims that the party is headed for an accident if it does not rectify its mistakes. He also suggests that the party collaborate 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 allied with traditional parties and their leaders.

Before Dhakal handed the review report to the party president on June 26, he disclosed his major findings with the media. This was also criticized at the meeting.

After handing over his report to President Lamichhane, Dhakal also demanded a live broadcast of the central committee meeting while the review report was discussed. However, his proposal was rejected saying that an overwhelming majority of the central committee was against the idea.

“Joint General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti presented the review report prepared by Dhakal to the party’s central committee after Dhakal refused to do so,” Jha, the party joint spokesperson, said. “When the majority of central committee members rejected the demand, Dhakal called it a violation of his freedom of expression.”

After Burlakoti read out the report at the meeting, it was termed incomplete.

Jha says that although there is a question whether Dhakal’s report can be practically implemented, it is not completely wrong.

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

Instead of answering the question raised against him at the central committee, Dhakal walked out of the meeting, accusing the party of harassing him, Jha added.

The meeting also criticized Dhakal for sharing his observations with the media before it was discussed in the party, added lawmaker Hari Dhakal. “The review report concerns the party strategy, which should not have gone to the media before being discussed in the party.”

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

However, Dhakal has refused to furnish a clarification citing the party statute. In his proposal addressed to Lamichhane, Dhakal on Wednesday explained why he is not answerable to the disciplinary committee.

“Sub-section 3 (3) of Clause 24 of the party statute lists the powers of the general secretary. According to the party statute, the general secretary can instruct the party committees,” said Dhakal, adding that such a committee cannot seek clarification from him.

The letter further reads: “After the decision of the party secretariat, the review report I prepared as the general secretary after touching the soil of 38 districts has been submitted to you. The report contains what I saw and what people briefed me at the party during my travel across the country.

“I’ve tried to accurately reflect the people’s voices here. If the report’s interpretation (by the party) differed from the people’s will, it would be a grave error.”