President Kamal Thapa Headquarters Kathmandu | Founded May 29, 1990 | |
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Student wing National Democratic Student Organisation, Nepal Youth wing National Democratic Youth Organisation, Nepal Labour National Democratic Trade union confederation | ||
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (Nepali: राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी नेपाल; translation: National Democratic Party Nepal) was a Hindu right-wing, cultural conservative and royalist political party in Nepal – a splinter group of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party was established on May 29, 1990 with an objective of providing an alternative democratic force to the nation. Nationalism, democracy and liberalism have remained as the three main ideological pillars of the party.
The party supports the restoration of the Hindu kingdom in Nepal under the Shah dynasty. The party was registered with the Election Commission of Nepal ahead of the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election. Ahead of the election, the party sought to form a front of royalist parties.
In the most recent elections, the RPP-N emerged as the fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly winning 24 out of 575 seats.
History
It was started as a breakaway faction of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party under leadership of Kamal Thapa, home minister under King Gyanendra's direct rule. Thapa resigned as party chair in October 2006.
RPP won the largest number of mayors in the 2006 municipal election. Rajaram Shrestha won in the capital Kathmandu; also Khadga Prasad Palungua in Dharan, Pralhad Prasad Shah Haluwai in Biratnagar, Ram Shankar Shah in Jaleswor, Sumitra Madhinne in Bhaktapur, Madhukar Prasad Adhikari in Hetauda, Bimal Prasad Shrivastav in Birgunj, Bidur Khadka in Baglung and Bhimsen Thapa in Pokhara. However this election was boycotted by most major parties.
In April 2006, the Nepal Samata Party (Socialist) merged into the party.
In January 2007 the splinter group Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nationalist) of Rajeswor Devkota rejoined RPP-N. Bidwai Parishad of Jit Bahadur Arjel also merged with RPP-N.
On March 2, 2008, Rabindra Nath Sharma stepped down as party chairman, citing health reasons. Kamal Thapa again became chairmain.
RPP won four seats in the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election. At the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on May 28, 2008, RPP was the only party to oppose the declaration of a republic; there were 560 votes in favor of a republic and only the RPP-Nepal's four votes against. Thapa subsequently said on June 20, 2008 that the country faced an impending "disaster", urging alertness among the party. He said that the party's policies and programmes would remain the same despite the political change. On July 13, 2008, he described the abolition of the monarchy as merely "an interim decision", saying that the RPP-Nepal sought the restoration of the monarchy.
The party boycotted the July 2008 presidential election in the Constituent Assembly, on the grounds that the major parties were treating the election as a partisan contest.
In August 2008 some senior leaders, like Rabindra Nath Sharma and Rajeshwor Devkota, left the party and joined the RPP. Mr. Rabindra Nath, the previous RPP Nepal's senior leader and later entered RPP again, died on November 22, 2008.
The party won 24 seats under proportional representation in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections making it the fourth largest party in the house. The party split following differences over naming candidates to the proportional representation seats won by the party. Central leaders of the party including former minister Tanka Dhakal and former Kathmandu mayoral candidate Rajaram Shrestha registered a new party 'Nepali Rastriya Prajatantra Party' (NRPP) at the Election Commission on 30 December 2013. However, the Election Commission turned down the breakaway group's request seeking recognition as a new party and claim of PR seats. Tanka Dhakal later announced his return to the RPP-N stating "Splitting the RPP-N at this moment is not in our interest. It will weaken democracy" Other dissidents leaders said it was Chairman Kamal Thapa's "concession on monarchy and Hindu state" that precipitated the split.
Ram Das Gupta, a politician from Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, has been five time mayor from Kapilvastu.