RPP Unity Under Pressure as Former Chairmen Warn Against a Fresh Split

Three of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s most recognizable figures have stepped in to try to stop another rupture inside Nepal’s pro-monarchy camp. Pashupati Shamsher Rana, Prakash Chandra Lohani, and Kamal Thapa issued a joint appeal urging cadres to stay loyal to the party even as reports say General Secretary Dhawal Shamsher Rana is preparing to form a new group.

The message is blunt: electoral defeat is not a reason to abandon the party’s core agenda. The former chairmen said setbacks are a normal part of politics and called on members not to walk away from the RPP’s long-standing push for a Hindu state and monarchy.

A familiar crisis for a party built on unity

The RPP has a long history of splits, mergers, and reunifications, and the latest warning highlights how fragile internal cohesion remains. The three leaders are effectively arguing that the party cannot afford another break at a time when its political identity is already under pressure.

The appeal also reflects a deeper fear inside the party: that a new split could weaken its relevance just as it tries to hold together its royalist and Hindu nationalist base. That concern is especially serious because the RPP’s identity has always depended on projecting itself as the main political home for monarchy supporters.

What the leaders are trying to preserve

According to the joint statement, the party’s agenda is bigger than any one election cycle. The former chairmen framed unity as essential to protecting the RPP’s ideological mission, urging members not to make what they described as a disastrous or self-defeating choice.

The intervention is notable because it comes from figures who have all played major roles in the party’s leadership over the years. Their joint stance signals that the current dispute is being treated as more than an ordinary internal disagreement.

Why Dhawal Shamsher Rana matters

The reports around Dhawal Shamsher Rana’s next move appear to have forced the party elders into action. If he proceeds with building a separate faction, it could trigger yet another round of fragmentation in a party that has repeatedly struggled to keep its leadership aligned.

That possibility makes the public unity call both a warning and a political strategy. The former chairmen are not only trying to calm the base, but also trying to raise the cost of defecting before the split becomes irreversible.

Why this fight matters beyond party politics

The RPP remains one of Nepal’s clearest vehicles for monarchist and Hindu nationalist politics, so any split can reshape the wider right-leaning political landscape. A fractured RPP could dilute that bloc’s influence and complicate efforts to keep its supporters organized around a single platform.

For now, the party’s senior figures are betting that public pressure, ideological loyalty, and memories of past divisions will be enough to hold things together. Whether that works will depend on whether the rank and file accept the warning, or whether the threatened breakaway gathers momentum anyway.