Here is why Madhav Nepal refused to become a presidential candidate

Published On: February 26, 2023 04:10 PM NPT By: Tapendra Karki


KATHMANDU, Feb 26: CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli’s ‘wish’ to make CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal the president of the country has come to an abrupt end for the time being.

The whole of the previous week, Oli tried hard to bring Nepal into his party by making him a candidate for president. But all his efforts were in vain. Chairman Nepal eventually stuck to his own alliance by supporting Nepali Congress candidate Ram Chandra Paudel. After Chairman Nepal did not agree, Chairman Oli nominated his party's Vice Chairman Subash Chandra Nembang as the presidential candidate.

Why did Chairman Nepal not accept Oli's proposal? Nepal, whose party, the Unified socialist, is the seventh largest party in parliament, and is not even a national party, showed no interest in the country’s presidency. It is also being analyzed that Chairman Nepal has lost the opportunity to become the president and to integrate the party into the UML.

“He rejected the proposal of becoming the president because he could not trust the UML,” said one of the Unified Socialist leaders. This is true, but Chairman Nepal was also petrified by the thought that some MPs of the UML would not vote for him after he became a presidential candidate. He was fed with similar information. That is why he was seen sitting in various talks seeking a national consensus on his candidacy.

On Friday morning, according to the source, Chairman Nepal was informed that eight federal MPs and 15 provincial assembly members of the UML would not vote for him, as reported by the National Investigation Department. The information was conveyed to Chairman Nepal at his residence in Koteshwar."

“That's why mistrust arose in the meeting between UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Chairman Nepal on Friday evening,” the source said, “Why should I fight an election that I will lose?” Chairman Nepal asked in the meeting. Meanwhile, the CPN (Maoist Center) and the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) moved to support the Nepali Congress. Chairman Nepal came out saying that if the Nepali Congress wins presidential candidacy, there will be a situation where they will have to compete with the Nepali Congress and lose.

According to the sources, Nepal did not believe UML Chairman Oli even if the latter gave a convincing basis. So, he walked away from the agreement. After making Subash Chandra Nembang a candidate for the presidency, UML also accepted Unified Socialist as a party by correspondence.

Nepal could not believe the conversation between the two leaders at Maharajgunj on Friday, where they accepted their weaknesses and moved forward and sought consensus on Nepal's name for the next president.

But on Saturday afternoon, UML sent a formal letter to Unified Socialist regarding the presidential election and indicated that the relationship between Oli and Nepal had improved.

This is the first time that UML formally accepted the Unified Socialist as a party and sent it a formal letter after UML Vice-Chairman Nembang submitted his candidacy for the presidency.

 


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