Senior Nepali Congress leader Ajaybabu Shivakoti on November 5, 2026, openly challenged the government, saying its fear and confusion would not sway him and that there was no need for the police to be deployed in search of him because he is coming to Kathmandu himself. The remarks, reported the same day by Nepali news outlets Setopati and Nagarik News, put a combative, personal message from one of the party's central office-bearers directly in front of the authorities in the capital.

A defiant message to the government

According to the reports, Shivakoti, the Nepali Congress Deputy General Secretary, said he would not be swayed by what he described as the government's "fear and confusion", framing the government's conduct as an attempt to intimidate or disorient him. He then went a step further and threw down a challenge to the state itself: there was no need, he said, to deploy the police to look for him at all. Instead, he announced, he is coming to Kathmandu.

Nagarik News built its report around this exchange, presenting the leader's words as a direct reply to the government. The key points of his statement, as reported, were:

  • He said he refuses to be influenced by the government's fear and confusion.
  • He told the government there was no need to deploy police to search for him.
  • He announced that he is travelling to Kathmandu on his own.

The phrasing of the message is central to its force. By publicly announcing his own arrival rather than waiting to be found, Shivakoti recast what might otherwise have been described as a search operation into a self-declared journey to the capital's political stage, and dared the authorities to respond to him there.

The police reference leaves key questions unanswered

The most striking element of the statement is its reference to a police search. Neither the Setopati report nor the Nagarik News report explained why the police would be looking for the senior Congress leader, and the available reporting did not mention any case, arrest warrant or other legal action against him. The reports also did not specify when or how the police were supposedly to be deployed, or whether any such move had actually been prepared.

What emerges unambiguously is Shivakoti's own characterization of events: a government he accuses of spreading fear and confusion, and authorities he suggests are preoccupied with finding him. The reports available did not indicate whether the government or the Nepal Police had issued any response to his remarks. Until further detail emerges from either side, the story rests largely on his own account, delivered in deliberately confrontational language.

A central figure in Nepal's oldest political party

Shivakoti holds the post of Deputy General Secretary in the Nepali Congress, one of the senior positions in the party's central organization. The Nepali Congress is one of Nepal's oldest and largest political parties, with a history intertwined with the country's democratic movement, and its central office-bearers are experienced national figures whose statements routinely shape political debate in Kathmandu and beyond.

A public challenge to the government from a leader at that level of the party therefore carries weight beyond the words of an individual politician. Statements from central office-bearers are typically read within the party and by rival parties as signals of a leadership's stance, and Shivakoti's remarks leave little room for interpretation that this was intended as routine criticism rather than open confrontation. His choice to address the government directly, and by name of place, the capital, underscores the personal nature of the challenge.

How the story was reported

The remarks were carried on November 5, 2026, by Setopati and Nagarik News, two widely read Nepali news outlets. Nagarik News framed its story around the quote itself, headlining the leader's message that the government's fear and confusion would not disturb him, that there was no need to search for him with the police, and that he was coming to Kathmandu. The Nagarik News report remains the fullest public account of the remarks cited here, with Setopati also covering the statement the same day.

The headline framing highlighted the unusual character of the story: a senior leader of a major party addressing the government directly, telling it not to bother looking for him because he would present himself in Kathmandu on his own terms.

What to watch as Shivakoti heads to Kathmandu

As of the November 5 reports, Shivakoti had announced his intention to travel to Kathmandu but had not, according to the available reporting, specified when he would arrive or what he planned to do once there. The reports also did not say whether the government or the police would react to his challenge, or whether the Nepali Congress would formally elaborate on his stance.

Several questions therefore remain open in the immediate aftermath of the statement:

  • When will he arrive in Kathmandu, and will he make a public appearance or address?
  • Will the government or the police respond to his remarks or clarify the circumstances behind the search reference?
  • Will other Nepali Congress leaders echo or expand on his challenge?

For now, the substance of the story rests on his own words as reported on November 5, 2026: that the government's fear and confusion will not move him, that no police search is necessary, and that he is coming to Kathmandu. Until either the government side or the party offers further detail, his announced journey to the capital stands as both a personal declaration of defiance and a direct challenge to the authorities he addressed.