All of them were focused on the upcoming House of Representatives elections, and all of the leaders claimed to be the first party after the upcoming elections.
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The Nepali Communist Party organized a unity message rally in the provincial capital Birendranagar on Saturday. Party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal, former Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and other top leaders participated in the rally.
All of them were focused on the upcoming House of Representatives elections, and all the leaders claimed to be the first party after the upcoming elections. On Friday, the National Independent Party organized a Karnali province-level program in the presence of its acting president DP Aryal and other leaders, while former minister Janardan Sharma, who left the former Maoists and formed the Progressive Democratic Party a week ago, participated in a youth gathering organized in his home district of Rukum West.
In the past two weeks, there was a lot of excitement across the province for the selection of UML general convention representatives, while the Nepali Congress is busy recommending candidates for the House of Representatives elections through regional committee meetings.
As of Saturday, potential candidates for the House of Representatives and the National Assembly have been recommended in Rukum West, Dolpa, Salyan, Kalikot, Surkhet, Jajarkot and other districts. Political party activities have been increasing in Karnali for the past month.
The government has announced the election of members of the House of Representatives on February 21 and the National Assembly on February 11. For which, the parties have intensified their political activities. There were no political programs in Karnali for almost two months since the Gen-G-led movement on Bhadra 23 and 24.
During the movement, party offices of the Congress, UML, RPP and other parties were set on fire and vandalized in Surkhet. ‘For about a month, we were busy removing the burnt structures of the party office. Like in the center, there was confusion here for some time, after which cleaning, painting and other works were done,’ said former Maoist provincial chair Bimala KC. ‘There is still reconstruction work to be done, but we have resumed the party campaign even in this situation.’
Even though the reconstruction work has not been completed, political activities have been increased, said Congress Surkhet president Khadak Bahadur Pokharel. "All the materials of the party office were destroyed in the fire, and those materials have not been restored, but we are still holding meetings, gatherings and other programs in the burned party office," he said. "Now we are also affected by the rush of the general convention, so necessary preparations have been started to finalize active membership and hold constituency and district conventions through the ward and municipality. At the same time, the rush of the House of Representatives and National Assembly elections has also affected us."
According to him, candidates have been recommended from both constituencies of Surkhet, and party programs have been intensified in the villages. UML leaders, on the other hand, have been busy with the 11th general convention since Saturday.
UML Province President Gulabjung Shah said that he will be busy with the general convention until Monday and will intensify the election-focused campaign in the villages with the message of the general convention. ‘Within a week, we will have to take the party activities from the recommendation of potential candidates to the rural areas,’ he said, ‘Now our focus will be on how to become the first party in Karnali.’
Kamal Lamsal, associate professor at Madhya Paschim University, said that after the Gen-G-led movement, the parties need to rebuild themselves. ‘For almost two months, there was zero political activity, but the movement has made the dissatisfaction and aspirations of the new generation clear,’ he said, ‘Now all parties need to focus their activities on including the demands of the youth generation, taking them as a challenge.’
Advocate Durga Prasad Sapkota says that the parties should take the upcoming elections as an opportunity to institutionalize the issues of the movement. ‘The young generation is angry at the traditional structure of the parties and their failed leadership,’ he said, ‘We should be able to establish the leadership of the parties with the young generation to build a transparent, accountable and opportunity-rich Nepal.’
