He was Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation from 16 March 2018 until his death in a helicopter crash in February 2019.

[6] After his demise, his wife Bidya Bhattarai won Kaski Constituency-2 with a wide margin of 8,403 votes in the by-election.

Bhattarai secured 24,394 votes, while her nearest contender Khem Raj Poudel from the main opposition Nepali Congress got 15,991.

[citation needed] He left CPN (UML) to join the breakaway Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and rejoined following reunification.

Rabindra Prasad Adhikari, along with six other people, died in a helicopter crash while returning from Pathibhara Devi Temple, Taplejung, Nepal, on 27 February 2019.