RPP lawmakers to join protest briefly before budget speech

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) leaders will briefly join a royalist protest planned for Thursday at Shantibatika in Kathmandu, but will later attend the Parliament meeting.

RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden, senior leader Pashupati Shamsher Rana, Vice President Buddhi Man Tamang, and spokesperson Gyanendra Shahi, among others, will participate in the protest for a short time before heading to the budget session in Parliament.

Gyanendra Shahi, who is also the chief whip of the party’s parliamentary group, said they would join both the protest and the Parliament session.

The royalist protest, which includes RPP, is set to start at 2 PM. However, the budget speech for fiscal year 2082/83 will begin in the Federal Parliament at 3 PM. Because of this, RPP MPs will leave the protest midway to attend the budget session.

“Our presence will be on both sides. We’ll join the protest for a while and then go listen to the budget speech,” said Shahi. RPP has 14 members in the House of Representatives.

RPP spokesperson Mohan Shrestha said leaders involved in the parliamentary front will attend the protest before 3 PM and then go to Parliament. Leaders who are not MPs will stay at the protest after that.