King Gyanendra Shah appears concerned about the status of monarchy in the country, as he summoned the second tier leaders of the three parties that the Ras­triya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has split into for a discussion on the topic. The discussion took place at the Himalaya Tea Gar­den in the southeastern town of Damak. (All the three RPPs have as their majority the leaders who were backers of the monarch’s direct rule before the 1990 democratic change.) Taking part in the discussion on March 18 were Buddhiman Tamang, Bhaskar Bhadra and Prahlad Shah from the Kamal Thapa-led RPP; Rajaram Shrestha, Sagun Lawati and Suresh Acharya from the Pashupa­ti Shumsher Rana-led RPP (Democratic); and Taranath Luitel, Dr Sharada Acharya and Keshab Shrestha from the Prakash Chandra Lohani-led United RPP (Nationalist).

 

A participant informed that the ex-king expressed concern about how the par­ty’s split had undermined the issue of monarchy and repeatedly stressed unifica­tion. According to the partici­pant, the former king argued that the split not only under­mined the issues of monarchy and Hindu nation but also jeopardized the very exis­tence of RPP.

 

The discussion began with the former king inquiring about contemporary politics and election results. He asked why the party, which had performed relatively well in the second Constituent Assembly elections, had fared badly in last year’s polls. All the participants attributed the party’s poor performance to the split. They also blamed lack of resources and deviation among top leaders from core party principles—and they unanimously argued for party unification.

 

“Don’t delay unification,” the source quoted Shah as say­ing. “I will help find resources.” The former king remarked that citizens were disillusioned with the current state of politics in the country and that addressing the disillusion­ment would require leaders to go to the public with the twin agenda of monarchy and Hindu nation.