National 1 (Spotlight Weekly)

At The Helm

Elected with a huge margin, the new president of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has to go a long way to prove his leadership qualities

By KESHAB POUDEL

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the third largest party in the country, concluded its third convention in Pokhara over the weekend, handing over leadership to a prominent second-generation politician. Pashupati Sumsher Rana, who had been serving as party general secretary, was elected RPP president winning 735 of the 1241 votes cast. He defeated party vice-president Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, who garnered 320 votes. The third contender, Rabindra Nath Sharma, won the support of 135 delegates.

The future of the party, dominated by former panchas, will depend on the role and support of former president and ex-prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa. Known as close to the hawkish group of panchas during his long political career, Rana now needs the strong backing of Thapa to maintain the liberal and democratic identity the outgoing president created during his 12 years at the helm.

An Oxford University graduate and a well-known development expert, Rana has been representing Sindhupalchowk district for the last three decades in two different political systems. Even in the much hostile period of 1990, when almost all former panchas lost the elections, Rana was among four RPP MPs elected to the 205-member House of Representatives.

Rana : Bumpy road ahead

In the initial phase of the party's formation 12 years ago, Rana sided with the faction led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand and held the position of general secretary. Interestingly, Rana's house in Maharajgunj was where the birth of the RPP-Chand, dominated by hard-line panchas, was announced. The formation of RPP-Thapa, known as the more liberal group, was announced at Sharma's residence.

Following their debacle in the first general elections in 1991, when the two factions jointly secured 11 percent of popular vote but merely four seats in parliament, RPP-Thapa and RPP-Chand merged in 1993. Thapa was elected party president, while Chand and Rajeswor Devkota were named party leaders. The unity paid dividends, as the RPP won 20 seats in the mid-term elections of 1994, giving it the key role in the hung parliament.

The RPP split a second time following the second general convention held in Birgunj in 1997. Chand and Devkota registered a splinter party in the House of Representatives, a decision that cost them nine seats and reduced the size of RPP in the last parliament.

Rana continued to side with the mainstream group led by Thapa. Although he was one of the main backers of Chand during Panchayat politics, Rana backed Thapa in his second political innings. When Sharma, a close colleague of Thapa, switched his loyalty to Chand, Rana opposed Chand's alliance with the CPN-UML, supporting Thapa's stand. After the second merger two years ago, Rana has focused on strengthening the RPP's organizational base.

A great grandson of Chandra Sumsher, the longest-serving Rana prime minister who signed the agreement with British India in 1923 that recognized Nepal as an independent and sovereign state, and a grandson of Mohan Sumsher, the last Rana prime minister, Pashupati Sumsher Rana is a familiar name in national politics.

A well-known water resources expert, Rana was among the key architects of the Mahakali Integrated Treaty, which was endorsed by a two-thirds majority of parliament in 1996 when he was minister of water resources. "I want support from both of my colleagues, Dr. Lohani and Sharma, and I will invite them to join the central committee," said Rana, speaking to Nepal Television after the election results were announced.

Rana, who secured the highest number of votes in the last election to the party central committee, was foreign minister in the Chand-led government that negotiated with multiparty activists at the Royal Nepal Academy in 1990 to end the partyless Panchayat system and to form the interim government Nepali Congress president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

Married into the royal family of the former Indian state of Gwalior, Rana's wife, Usha Raje Rana, is the daughter of the late Bijaya Raje Scindia, who was politically active in India through the Bharatiya Janata Party. During the period of emergency, Bijaya Raje was said to have played a crucial role in uniting anti-Congress leaders against then-prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The RPP has a new president with vast experience, but it will be very difficult to keep senior and ambitious leaders united for a long time. Had Sharma or Dr. Lohani, who claimed to be the liberal face of the party, been elected as party president, Thapa would have had little room for maneuver.

As the country is passing through a very difficult phase, when the major political parties - the UML, Nepali Congress and Nepali Congress (Democratic) - have launched a nationwide agitation urging King Gyanendra to "correct his constitutional mistakes", Rana confronts a tough challenge. In the immediate term, how he leads his party in backing the Chand government while developing understanding with the other main parties will be closely watched.