RSP MP Sasmit Pokhrel Said ‘Indo-American’ Wanted Balen as PM? No, Viral Video Shared With False Caption

Claim
Rastriya Swatantra Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sasmit Pokharel revealed that the Army wished Balen Shah as prime minister in line with the ‘Indo-US Strategy’.  
Fact
Viral video is shared with a false text laid on it.

As the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is preparing to form a new government after securing almost a two-thirds majority in the snap parliamentary elections, several false and misleading videos are making the rounds on social media. In this context, a video showing Rastriya Swatantra Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sasmit Pokharel allegedly revealing that it was part of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy to choose Balen Shah as the Prime Minister is going viral.  

Former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ officially joined RSP in January 2026. He was presented as RSP’s prime ministerial candidate for March 5 snap elections following the massive “Gen Z” uprising of September 8 & 9.

Against this backdrop, TikTok user @tilakbk4422 posted a video showing RSP MP Sasmit Pokhrel speaking to a popular show named Fireside broadcast on Kantipur Television. In the show Pokhrel is heard saying, “Nepali Army also had a wish that Balen Shah should be the prime minister.” In the 11-second interview, the host Rupesh Shrestha asks, “You mean the Nepal Army had also wished that Balen Shah be appointed as the prime minister?” Pokhrel quips, “Definitely, it had also come out in the public.”

Text superimposed on the video reads, “Army wanted Balen Shah As The Prime Minister in line with Indo-American strategy, reveals RSP lawmaker.” RSP lawmaker Pokhrel has been elected as the member of the House of Representatives from Kathmandu- 5.

The video posted on TikTok has garnered 1169 likes, 309 users have shared and 30 people have commented until the last count.

The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.

The claim is viral at a time when conspiracy theories are making the rounds that the RSP won the elections on the backing of the US government’s covert support and that it wants to sign the State Partnership Programme (SPP)—a key part of US Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.

Fact Check /Verification

To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker checked the YouTube channel of Kantipur Television and found a recent video, dated March 9, 2026, of fireside talk show.

On checking the video, we found that the recent edition of the show hosted RSP lawmakers Sasmit Pokhrel and Manish Khanal. We found that the video clip from time-stamp 18:37-minute to 18:48-minute exactly matched the viral video. In the clipped section of the interview, Pokhrel is talking about the inside information regarding Nepal Army’s wish to pick Balen Shah as the new prime minister after the Gen Z uprising and the fall of KP Oli government. However, he did not mention anything about the US Indo-strategy during the entire interview.

On searching further, we could not find any other credible reports confirming that Balen Shah was proposed for the post of interim prime minister by the Nepal Army after the Gen Z uprising.  

But we found an article, dated September 10, 2025, posted on Nepal News online regarding Balendra Shah’s endorsement for the Gen Z’s recommendation to appoint former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as head of Nepal’s interim government following unprecedented protests.

After resigning as mayor of Kathmandu in January 2026, Balen formally joined the RSP following a seven-point agreement and became one of its senior leaders. The RSP had already presented him as its prime ministerial candidate. 

Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral clip from a popular talk show is shared with a misleading caption.

Conclusions

No, the newly elected RSP MP Sasmit Pokhrel did not say that the Nepal Army wished Balen Shah to become the prime minister in line with the Indo-US strategy. The viral video actually shows MP Pokhrel talking about the context after the Gen Z protests and the fall of KP Oli government. Thus, the viral video is shared with a misleading caption.

Result: Misleading

Sources
Kantipur HD /YouTube , March 9, 2026
Nepal News, Sept 10, 2025