Kamal Thapa, who was labelled a rat by RPP leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand, is on the verge of being beaten by other rats. The palace rats are waiting to see if the Election Commission grants Thapa's RPP the recognition and the plough election symbol. They will only support him if he receives both-if he fails, their support will go elsewhere. Provisions to include other royalists in the Thapa-led RPP have been made by including a permanent committee in the party's constitution. But Thapa himself is not aware of who will come to his faction, whose division was planned entirely by Tulsi Giri. Provisions have been made to include the party's former chairmen, past and present prime ministers and elder leaders in the permanent committee. But neither the former chairmen, nor prime ministers, are with Thapa. Surya Bahadur Thapa has already formed the Janashakti Party, while Lokendra B Chand does not even want to hear Thapa's name. Even though there are two leaders, Rabindra Sharma and Padma S Lawoti, capable of being included in the permanent committee, its possible that Lawoti will break away and form another party. Thapa might have plans to put the likes of Giri, Kirtinidhi Bista and Marichman Singh in the committee, however they are said to be waiting to see if the party does form and get official recognition. It was Giri who made the plan to remove Pashupati Shamsher Rana and critics of the February February move from the party. Thapa and six other central committee members were included in the ministerial cabinet so they could get away from the circle of the party and be brought within the palace circle.However, Giri's plan to use Thapa and Lawoti has not been entirely successful. Thapa will have to bear the brunt of this. It is estimated that if the RPP does not get official recognition and the party symbol, those who followed Thapa will once more slide towards Rana. After Rana filed a case in the court, even before the Election Commission decided to grant Thapa the plough symbol and recognition, many who followed Thapa started to accuse Giri of weakening their position. If the palace had taken Rana, it could also have got the support of India as he has relatives in the ruling Congress party of India as well as in the main opposition BJP.

PIC: KIRAN PANDAY