8 top guns say they are future PMs ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Admin:-Umesh Dhakal. In an effort to improve prospects of winning the November election, at least eight candidates of major political parties have projected themselves as future prime ministers in election campaigns. Nepali Congress leaders Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel, CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, KP Oli and Bam Dev Gautam and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Loktantrik Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar have been seeking votes by telling people that they will keep their promises as they are the future PMs. In the Far West, former PM and NC leader Deuba is a towering figure and his supporters have been portraying him as the man who would be PM for the fourth time. While Deuba himself has tried to avoid saying this, his campaigners swear by the moon that he indeed is the future PM. “There is no doubt that he [Deuba] is the future prime minister who could change the face of the Far West in particular and the entire nation in general,” Deuba’s press advisor Badri Sigdel said from Dadeldhura, where Deuba is now campaigning. “He has promised to address unemployment issues in the region and complete major hydropower and irrigation projects to harness rivers such as Karnali, Bheri, West Seti and Mahakali.” In the party, meanwhile, while Deuba’s PM candidacy is a matter of perennial controversy with the party’s Vice- president Poudel claiming the same, insiders say that in the post-2011 days, the turf has gone heavier on Deuba’s side. While Poudel, as the NC’s parliamentary party leader, has long been the “official PM candidate,” luck does not seem to be favouring him, said an NC leader. In 2011, Poudel fought for the post 17 times against Khanal, but in vain. And this time, Poudel continues to project him along the same lines though he has a tough battle to fight with a dissident candidate competing from the same constituency, Tanahun-2. In the Mid West, NC President Koirala and UML leader Gautam are seen as two other candidates projecting themselves as future PM. While Koirala is still silent, his campaigners say he is the only candidate to head the next government. “The NC has already fielded Koirala as the future prime minister and he will be the PM once the party gets a chance to lead the government,” NC leader Ananda Prasad Dhungana, the party’s organisation chief, who is currently campaigning for Koirala in Banke, said. A saintly figure, Koirala has not assumed any public position so far. “As a man of integrity, Koirala is an acceptable leader to lead the next government,” Dol Raj Kafle, a lecturer at the Mahendra Multiple Campus said. However, Koirala has a tough battle in Banke-3, without any alliance with the UML or Madhes-based parties. He also faces some local resentment for not taking initiatives to develop Banke as a modern city. Damodar Acharya of the UCPN (Maoist), Bijaya Dhital of the UML, Pashupati Dayal Mishra of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, Dhawal Shumsher Rana of RPP-Nepal and Hira Lal Lonia of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum Loktantrik-(MJF-L) are contesting against Koirala, who lost the 2008 CA election there. UML leader Gautam, who has fielded himself in two constituencies (Bardiya-1 and Pyuthan-1), is also claiming himself to be the next prime minister. “I am a strong candidate for the prime ministerial post in the party. I hope voters in Bardiya will elect me and help me in becoming the first prime minister from the district,” he said. Gautam has promised to open an agricultural university, expand the Bheri Diversion Project for irrigation in Banke and Bardiya and end problems problems of landless people, among other things, after he takes charge as the executive head. Gautam too had tasted defeat in the 2008 CA election. In the East, both UML Chairman Khanal and senior leader Oli have competing claims over the party’s candidacy for the next PM. As UML candidate from Jhapa-7, Oli has publicly announced that he will take charge of the new government as Khanal and Madhav Nepal have already been tested. “My candidacy is to ensure a successful delivery of the new constitution and institutionalisation of democracy,” Oli said in Jhapa on Tuesday. He is considered the most articulate orator in the UML and a bold personality with a strong command within the party’s organisational structure and in the Youth Association Nepal, the party’s youth wing. Like Oli, Khanal and Nepal have fielded themselves as the future PM candidates in their constituencies. To avoid any possible defeat in the election, both Nepal and Khanal have filed their candidacy from two constituencies. While Khanal is contesting from Ilam-1 and Sarlahi-1, Nepal is contesting from Kathmandu-2 and Rautahat-1. MJF-L Chairman Gachhadar, who is contesting from Morang-7, has already proclaimed that he, as “a son of an Aadivasi-Janjati,” would be the next prime minister. “Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum is emerging as the largest force in the election and Bijaya dai will take charge as the new government chief,” said MJF-L candidate Hira Lal Lonia. However, Gachhadar’s chances of bagging the hot seat depend largely on how the four major Madhes-based parties forge their alliance. Gachhadar hopes he will lead a coalition government as he feels no party will get a majority in this election. (With inputs from Janak Nepal in Nepalgunj and Mohan Budhair in Dhangadi)
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 05:11:59 +0000
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