Five RJP candidates resign en masse

Five candidates of the Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) in Chitwan district have tendered their joint resignation on Sunday, giving a serious blow to the pro-monarchist party at the threshold of the Constituent Assembly (CA) election. Along with these candidates, four members of the party's district committee also resigned the same day.

Those who resigned include candidates under the proportional system Bindu Chaudhary and Resham Babu Shrestha, who is also RJP district chairman, and the party's first-past-the-post (FPTP) candidates from Chitwan constituencies 1, 2 and 5, Kumar Pathak, Jangi Chaudhary and Thagai Mahato respectively.

Likewise, the party's district committee members who have resigned include Ammar Shrestha, Rajendra Neupane, Bishwa Neupane and Kamala Gurung. RJP has said its district committee now comprises only four members from the earlier thirteen.

Moreover, the resigning candidates have also hinted that they might join the CPN (Maoists).

Issuing a joint statement Sunday, the five candidates and four district committee members said they would join a party that would build a 'new Nepal', hinting at the possibility of them joining the CPN (Maoists).

In the statement, they also accused former prime minister and RJP chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa of taking an ‘indistinct stance’ on party policy during the election and said this had prompted them to resign from the party.

Shrestha also claimed that other FPTP candidates in Chitwan constituencies 3 and 4 would join them. nepalnews.com ag Mar 31 08