KATHMANDU, Nov 21: ​Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) has appointed Rajendra Mahato as the coordinator of the party presidium on Tuesday. The decision of the party comes amid various leaders close to Mahato complaining of high-handedness in party administration by seniormost presidium member and coordinator Mahantha Thakur.

“RJPN has decided to appoint coordinator of the party presidium member on rotation basis, therefore Rajendra Mahato has been appointed coordinator from Tuesday. Another leader will be named coordinator after two months,” said RJPN General Secretary Keshav Jha. Five of the six presidium members had approved the decision. Anil Jha was the only member to oppose the appointment of Mahato.

Although the party statute provisions appointing a new coordinator every two months from among the presidium members, Thakur remained coordinator for over a year since the party was formed after a merger of six various Madhes-centric political parties.

The decision comes amid various leaders close to Mahato complaining of high-handedness in party administration by seniormost presidium member and coordinator Mahantha Thakur.

Earlier, RJPN leaders had agreed to keep Thakur as coordinator until their general convention slated for April, 2019, Mahato and his supporters were unhappy with Thakur's leadership and accused Thakur of taking decisions unilaterally. The party's general convention is scheduled for April 20-22.

Meanwhile the party meeting on Tuesday also revoked appointments of about 50 office bearers and over 100 central committee members in the party made after the party merger. “The meeting decided to endorse the list of office bearers and central committee members submitted to the Election Commission ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections,” said Jha. RJPN had submitted a list of 815 central committee members to the commission in 2017.

 
• rjpn
 
• presidium
 
• coordinator