Kathamandu: Nepal’s Rashtriya Swatantra Party chief Ravi Lamichhane met Kathmandu Metropolitan City mayor Balendra Shah to discuss possible cooperation and collaboration for the upcoming general election in the Himalayan nation next year.
The six-hour-long meeting between Shah and the RSP chairman Monday came days after Lamichhane was granted bail in a cooperative fund misappropriation case.
RSP vice-chair D P Aryal said that the meeting was very cordial, and the main discussion was on moving forward by accommodating all the new forces as per the spirit and aspiration of the Gen Z youths.
“Both the leaders have agreed to bring under a single umbrella all the alternative forces,” the Kathmandu Post newspaper quoted a source close to Shah as saying. Former RSP lawmaker Asim Shah said an agreement was reached in principle.
RSP further aims to hold meetings with other new political forces, including the newly formed Ujyalo Nepal Party led by Energy Minister Kulman Ghising, said Aryal.
He added that the Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Harka Sampang, also the chief of the newly formed Shrama Shakti Party, will be invited for talks for a possible electoral alliance and collaboration.
The Gen Z voters are drifting towards RSP or the Ujyalo Nepal Party, while Mayor Shah’s support could significantly influence parliamentary seat outcomes, according to political observers.
Meanwhile, traditional parties, including the Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), have moved the Supreme Court seeking House reinstatement, even as they prepare for elections. Maoist leader Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has begun campaigning nationwide.
The traditional political parties led by former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Sharma Oli have filed writs in the Supreme Court demanding reinstatement of the House of Representatives, calling its dissolution September 12 following the Gen Z movement as unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, they are also preparing for the March 5 elections next year.