Rajendra Prasad Lingden
{{short description|Nepalese politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = Honourable
| honorific-suffix = MP
| name = Rajendra Prasad Lingden
| native_name = {{nobold|राजेन्द्र प्रसाद लिङ्देन}}
| native_name_lang = ne
| image = Rajendra_Prasad_Lingden.png
| caption = Lingden in 2022
| office = Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal
| alongside = Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Rabi Lamichhane
| term_start = 17 January 2023
| term_end = 25 February 2023
| president = Bidhya Devi Bhandari
| primeminister = Pushpa Kamal Dahal
| predecessor = Bishnu Prasad Paudel
Rajendra Mahato
Raghubir Mahaseth
| successor = Purna Bahadur Khadka
| office1 = Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation of Nepal
| term_start1 = 17 January 2023
| term_end1 = 25 February 2023
| president1 = Bidhya Devi Bhandari
| primeminister1 = Pushpa Kamal Dahal
| predecessor1 = Pampha Bhusal
| successor1 = Shakti Bahadur Basnet
| office2 = Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party
| term_start2 = 5 December 2021
| term_end2 =
| 1blankname2 = Senior Deputy Chairman
| 1namedata2 = Rabindra Mishra ({{small|from 28 September 2022}})
| 2blankname2 = Deputy Chairman
| 2namedata2 = Bikram Pandey
Budhhiman Tamang
Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan
Rosan Karki
| predecessor2 = Kamal Thapa
Pashupati Shamsher JBR
Prakash Chandra Lohani
| office3 = Member of Pratinidhi Sabha
| term_start3 = 4 March 2018
| term_end3 =
| predecessor3 = Krishna Prasad Sitaula
| constituency3 = Jhapa 3
| birth_place = Panchthar District, Nepal
| nationality = Nepali
| party = Rastriya Prajatantra Party
| otherparty = {{nowrap|Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal}}
| spouse = Sita Thapa
| parents = Man Prasad Lingden (father)
Dhan Kumari Lingden (mother)
}}
Rajendra Prasad Lingden is a Nepali politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. He also served as the Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation. He is also the chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). He served as a member of the 1st Federal Parliament of Nepal from March 2018.{{cite news |date=2022-09-05 |title=RPP Chairman Lingden resigns as lawmaker to put pressure on ruling parties to end term of current parliament |language=en |work=Republica |url=https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/rpp-chairman-lingden-resigns-as-lawmaker-to-put-pressure-on-ruling-parties-to-end-current-term-of-parliament/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109002630/https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/rpp-chairman-lingden-resigns-as-lawmaker-to-put-pressure-on-ruling-parties-to-end-current-term-of-parliament/ |archive-date=2022-11-09}} He was re-elected in 2022 in the 2nd Federal Parliament of Nepal.{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-11-24 |title=RPP President Rajendra Lingden elected from Jhapa-3 |url=https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/133905/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210043503/https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/rpp-president-rajendra-lingden-elected-from-jhapa-3/ |archive-date=2022-12-10 |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Republica |language=en}}
Early life and education
Rajendra Lingden was born in Amarpur, in Panchthar district,{{Cite web |date=2021-12-05 |title=Rajendra Lingden elected Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman |url=https://english.khabarhub.com/2021/05/224309/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723060630/https://english.khabarhub.com/2021/05/224309/ |archive-date=2023-07-23 |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=Khabarhub |language=en}} to Dhan Kumari and Man Prasad Lingden. He married Sita Thapa, they have one daughter and two sons. Lingden was involved in politics from a young age. He has completed his master's degree from Tribhuvan University. He was also nominated for the position of chairman of the District Development Committee of Jhapa during the direct rule of King Gyanendra. He comes from Jhapa-3, constituency.
Career
Lingden was involved in RPP politics from the beginning of the party's establishment. He held several positions within the party, including General Secretary, before contesting for the position of president in 2021.
On 5 December 2021, Lingden was elected Chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party by defeating the incumbent chairman, Kamal Thapa at the party's general convention. Lingden got 1,844 votes, while Kamal Thapa got 1,617 votes. A total of 413 votes were invalidated. Stating that he would accept defeat, Thapa tweeted and congratulated Lingden on his victory.{{Cite web |last=Dhakal |first=Khila Nath |date=2021-12-05 |title=Lingden elected RPP chair, Thapa blames ex-king Gyanendra for loss |url=https://en.setopati.com/political/157507/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205024938/https://en.setopati.com/political/157507 |archive-date=2021-12-05 |access-date=2022-07-26 |website=Setopati}}{{Cite web |last=Khanal |first=Ishwar Dev |date=2021-12-05 |title=Lingden steals the show with a powerful message of generational transfer in politics |url=https://english.khabarhub.com/2021/05/224413/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205090506/https://english.khabarhub.com/2021/05/224413/ |archive-date=2021-12-05 |access-date=2022-07-27 |website=Khabarhub |language=en}}
In the 2017 and 2022 elections, Lingden defeated former Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Sitaula was considered Girija Prasad Koirala's right-hand person in bringing Maoists, UML, and other parties together, and his defeat was seen as a rebuke of the Nepali Congress's handling of the aftermath of the peace process.{{Cite web |date=2017-12-04 |title=Will Lingden exact revenge on Sitaula for abolition of monarchy? |url=https://en.setopati.com/political/49554/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217211859/https://en.setopati.com/political/49554/ |archive-date=2022-02-17 |access-date=2021-05-12 |work=Setopati}}{{Cite web |date=2021-12-05 |title=राप्रपा अध्यक्षमा विजयी राजेन्द्र लिङ्देन को हुन् ? |url=https://www.onlinekhabar.com/2021/12/1048144 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205184323/https://www.onlinekhabar.com/2021/12/1048144 |archive-date=2021-12-05 |access-date=2021-12-05 |website=Online Khabar |language=ne}}
After the Rastriya Prajatantra Party's strong showing in the 2022 Nepalese general election, where the party won 14 seats, the RPP decided to join the current coalition government under Lingden's leadership. Lingden became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation. On 25 February 2023, Lingden resigned from his posts, and the RPP quit the coalition government being in for less than 40 days.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-25 |title=Rastriya Prajatantra Party exits government |url=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2023/02/25/rastriya-prajatantra-party-exits-government |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601230511/https://kathmandupost.com/national/2023/02/25/rastriya-prajatantra-party-exits-government |archive-date=2023-06-01 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=The Kathmandu Post |language=English}}{{Cite news |last=Sharma |first=Gopal |date=2023-02-25 |title=Nepal's ruling coalition in turmoil as deputy PM and 3 other ministers quit |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nepals-ruling-coalition-turmoil-deputy-pm-3-other-ministers-quit-2023-02-25/ |url-status=live |access-date=2023-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519082118/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nepals-ruling-coalition-turmoil-deputy-pm-3-other-ministers-quit-2023-02-25/ |archive-date=2023-05-19}}
Electoral history
In the 2017 Nepalese general election, he was elected from the Jhapa 3 constituency, securing 44614 (56.52%) votes.{{Cite web |title=प्रतिनिधि सभा सदस्य निर्वाचन, २०७४ |url=https://www.election.gov.np/ecn/uploads/userfiles/ElectionResultBook/HoR2074.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901211530/https://www.election.gov.np/ecn/uploads/userfiles/ElectionResultBook/HoR2074.pdf |archive-date=2018-09-01 |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Election Commission of Nepal |language=ne}}{{Cite web |date=2017-12-10 |title=Lingden defeats NC leader Sitaula ni Jhapa-3 |url=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2017/12/10/lingden-defeats-nc-leader-sitaula-ni-jhapa-3 |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=The Kathmandu Post}}
| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |Party !Candidate !Votes |
| style="background-color:gold" |
|Rajendra Prasad Lingden |44,614 |
| style="background-color:{{party color|Nepali Congress}}" |
|31,171 |
| style="background-color:indianred" |
|Navaraj Kharel |1,306 |
| | colspan="2" |Others
|1,841 |
| colspan="3" |Invalid votes
|4,312 |
| colspan="2" |Result
! colspan="2" |RPP gain |
|---|
| colspan="4" |Source: [https://result.election.gov.np/ElectionResultCentral.aspx Election Commission] |
| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |Party !Candidate !Votes |
| style="background-color:gold" |
|Rajendra Prasad Lingden |40,662 |
| style="background-color:{{party color|Nepali Congress}}" |
|37,386 |
| style="background-color:indianred" |
|Navaraj Kharel |3,461 |
| | colspan="2" |Others
|1,384 |
| colspan="3" |Invalid votes
|1,915 |
| colspan="2" |Result
! colspan="2" |RPP gain |
|---|
| colspan="4" |Source: [https://result.election.gov.np/ElectionResultCentral.aspx Election Commission] |
References
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{{Hindu Nationalism|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingden, Rajendra Prasad}}
Category:Rastriya Prajatantra Party politicians
Category:People from Panchthar District
Category:Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal politicians