Kathmandu, Jan 10: Following his resignation from the ministerial post, Kulman Ghising held discussions with Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairperson Ravi Lamichhane. On Friday morning, Ghising met Lamichhane to follow up on prior commitments.
According to sources, the two leaders held a one-on-one meeting at Lamichhane’s residence in Budhanilkantha. The discussion covered the integration of the Ujyalo Nepal Party into RSP and other overall matters, but no consensus was reached, said Ganesh Ghising, a senior leader of the former Ujyalo Party and Kulman’s brother.
The main sticking points remain the principles of federalism, secularism, and inclusion. “Our position is that there must be a written agreement on these issues. So far, no agreement has been reached,” Ganesh Ghising said.
While Lamichhane has expressed verbal agreement on the points raised by Kulman’s faction, he has been reluctant to sign a written agreement. “He has not clearly committed on these issues. Discussions are ongoing. An initial verbal agreement was made, but signing the formal policy-level agreement has not happened,” a source close to UNPA said. “You cannot claim to follow the constitution and elections while ignoring these points.”
Friday’s meeting again focused on the same issues. A Kulman-aligned source said, “From the start, we have called for a respectful unity.”
Kulman serves as the patron of Ujyalo Nepal Party, with Anup Upadhyay as chairman. After the merger, Ujyalo supporters have demanded guaranteed central committee representation in RSP, revisions to proportional representation lists, and candidacy under the direct election system as part of a package deal.
Previously, the parties had agreed to give Kulman the second senior vice-chair position along with co-general secretary and co-spokesperson roles in RSP. However, the number of central committee seats for Ujyalo remains unresolved.
Before finalizing the unity on Dec 29, 2025, RSP had already reached an agreement with Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, adding 26 members to the central committee from his side. No Ujyalo leaders have been included yet, and the exact number of central committee seats for Ujyalo is still under negotiation.
Ujyalo Nepal has also demanded that all 18 names on its closed proportional list be included, with some prioritized at the top. RSP has so far rejected these demands, according to Kulman’s faction.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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