Kathmandu, Nov 15: Leaders and lawmakers from various political parties are currently travelling abroad. Some have travelled to Türkiye to attend an international conference on climate change. Others have departed for China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Some are in Malaysia to attend the Asian Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus 2026, while others are preparing to travel to the Philippines for an international conference on ending violence against children.
However, foreign trips by political leaders and lawmakers have triggered questions within the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). RSP leaders and lawmakers themselves have publicly questioned the purpose of these visits, their costs and the benefits they are expected to deliver.
Tika Sangraula (Jwala), an RSP central committee member and lawmaker, recalled how her party had previously questioned leaders and lawmakers from other parties for travelling abroad in large groups.
“Travelling abroad in large groups goes against the interests of the country and its people, colleagues. Where is it written that something was wrong when others did it yesterday but becomes right when we do it today?” she wrote on social media.
“If the host country has invited a certain number of lawmakers, specifically experts, and is covering their expenses, that is fine. But if we have travelled by spending public money, this practice was wrong yesterday and remains wrong today.”
She urged party colleagues not to interpret her remarks as an expression of disappointment at not having been selected for a foreign trip.
Another RSP central committee member and lawmaker, Ganesh Karki, has called on those travelling abroad to publicly declare whether their trips are being funded by the government.
He made the remarks in reference to the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Karki said attending COP offers considerable opportunities for learning and gaining experience, but personal ambitions should not be pursued using public funds.
Five Nepali ministers have attended COP31, which is being held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 23 Kartik to 4 Mangsir. Several lawmakers have also travelled to the conference.
RSP central committee member and lawmaker Ashika Tamang has questioned how many foreign trips a lawmaker is entitled to undertake using public funds.
RSP lawmaker Raju Pandey has also questioned the foreign travel of political leaders.
According to another RSP lawmaker, Shriram Neupane, he too received separate telephone calls from the secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Forests and Environment, inviting him to attend COP31.
20 lawmakers depart for China
A delegation of 20 lawmakers, led by RSP General Secretary Bipin Kumar Acharya, has departed for China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The delegation left for China on Sunday. The visit will last 11 days. The delegation includes RSP Joint General Secretary Hari Dhakal, Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party Ganesh Parajuli and Chief Whip Kabindra Burlakoti.
Other members are lawmakers Lima Adhikari, Samiksha Baskota, Sagar Dhakal, Dr Anand Bahadur Chand, Sushant Vaidik, Rima Bishwakarma, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, Shriram Neupane, Dr Ram Lama, Gazala Shamim Mikerani, Poonam Agrawal, Ratna Thapa, Dr Sujata Tamang, Pushpa Kumari Chaudhary, Aravind Shah and Ramesh Sapkota.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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