It had been 93 days since Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa became Prime Minister. RPP MPs and ministers had already started maneuvering to topple Prime Minister Thapa's government. Thapa became Prime Minister in Asoj 2054 by removing RPP parliamentary party leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand. Less than a hundred days after becoming Prime Minister, RPP MPs and ministers had started maneuvering internally to remove Thapa.

The character of RPP ministers who were engaged in a campaign to topple the government from within was becoming the main cause of instability. UML and Congress could not form a government without RPP in parliament. But RPP MPs kept changing the Chand and Thapa groups at any time. RPP MPs who had helped to topple the Chand government had joined the group to topple the Thapa government less than a hundred days later.

Seeing the tendency of his MPs, while facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament as Prime Minister in Asoj 2054, Chand had said, ‘When a ship sinks, rats are the first to jump into the water, but they do not survive. If those rats get a chance to board another ship, they make holes in it again to let water in and sink the ship.’ At that time, Chand’s statement was targeted at party chairman Thapa and Minister Kamal Thapa, including MPs. Chand had made this statement very seriously in the House of Representatives.

Not to mention, his statement was also applied to Thapa less than a hundred days after becoming Prime Minister. Just as they had supported Thapa in Chand’s cabinet and toppled the government, the same MPs had become active in removing Thapa again. After realizing that the RPP MPs were trying to topple his government in collaboration with the UML, Prime Minister Thapa recommended to the King to dissolve the Parliament and hold mid-term elections on 24 Poush 2054. On the same day, leaders from the UML and others had requested the King to call a special meeting of Parliament to discuss the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Thapa. Four prime ministers had been elected in the three years and one month since the mid-term elections in 2051. However, a stable government had not been formed.

Prime Minister Thapa had recommended to the King to hold parliamentary elections on 15 Jestha 2055. The UML was constantly trying to overthrow the Congress in order to avenge the fall of the nine-month-old government led by Manmohan Adhikari. No-confidence motions were moved against Deuba, who became Prime Minister in 2052 Bhadra, twice in about 19 months. Although the UML's no-confidence motion was unsuccessful, the government fell in 2053 Falgun when Deuba failed to show a majority.

Deuba was in a minority after two Congress MPs were absent from the House of Representatives. Internal strife in the Congress was more responsible for this, while the entire UML and some RPP MPs were against Deuba. After Deuba was removed, Chand became the Prime Minister. But the RPP's Thapa group led by the Congress tried to remove him. Chand was removed from the post of Prime Minister within 8 months. After that, Thapa became the Prime Minister. As soon as Thapa became the Prime Minister, RPP MPs under the leadership of the UML were again active in the game of toppling the government.

In the process of forming and toppling the government, RPP MPs used to go wherever they could get the most benefit. Out of the 20 RPP seats in the parliament, 17 people were not in a position to rely on any prime minister. RPP MPs were surrounded by the character of needing a minister for an MP, a minister of state for an assistant minister, and a minister of state for a cabinet minister. There were reports that some ministers were threatening to topple the government if they did not provide a financially sound ministry. Incidents like buying and selling MPs, foreign trips, and managing alcohol and beauty products to save the government had come to the surface. When the issue reached the public level, a kind of discontent with the parliamentary system spread.

The game of splitting the RPP

As the activities of power interests increased, a plan was put forward to split the RPP. A group of the RPP, which was active in removing the Prime Minister, was playing a game of splitting the parliamentary party before the vote on the no-confidence motion. Preparations were being made to form a new party and move forward. Minister Thapa, however, claimed that the discrepancy seen within the RPP had ended.

UML's petition at the palace

UML had petitioned the King to call a special session of parliament with the signatures of 96 MPs, including 87 of its own and 9 of the RPP. The king was informed that he had submitted a petition to discuss the issue of no confidence in Prime Minister Thapa. UML Standing Committee members Jhalanath Khanal, Radhakrishna Mainali, Amrit Kumar Bohara, and RPP leader Chand had gone to the palace to submit the petition.

Prime Minister Thapa, however, had recommended the dissolution of Parliament and a mid-term election before submitting the petition. The petition was signed by RPP members Chand, Padmasundar Lawati, Ramkrishna Acharya, Fattesingh Tharu, Rajiv Parajuli, Mahendra Rai, Prem Bahadur Bhandari, and Khobari Rai. UML leader Khanal had claimed that 12 RPP lawmakers were in favor of the no-confidence motion. The king had started consultations to decide on the dissolution of Parliament, mid-term elections, and the petition.