Last Saturday, the UML regional committee meeting decided to recommend the single name of party chairman KP Sharma Oli as the direct candidate from Jhapa-5. Along with this, there was a strong demand to recommend Chairman Oli's name in Jhapa-3 as well.

‘All the members present are saying that if the central chairman stands up, he can win in Jhapa-3.’ Everyone is unanimous on this,’ said Madhav Bidhoori, a member of the UML Koshi Province Advisory Committee, and widespread support was heard in the meeting.’

However, that voice was more of a ‘symbolic satire’ against Oli than a real support. Why were members of his own home district angry against the party’s supreme commander Oli? The main reason for this was the same, Oli’s long-standing neglect and contempt for Jhapa-3.

From Jhapa-3, the regional committee has directly recommended Deepak Karki’s name as the first, Hari Rajbanshi as the second, and Basant Baniya as the third. The names of Santalal Meche, Devendra Acharya, and Kalpana Regmi were placed at the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions, respectively.

Interestingly, Karki's name being recommended as the first candidate in Jhapa-5 was also a kind of symbolic dissatisfaction. Reflecting the message that 'If all opportunities are to be given to Jhapa-5, then they should be given openly.'

However, Office Secretary Chhabilal Bishwakarma said that out of the names recommended by the regional committee, the district committee sent only the names of Hari Rajbanshi and Basant Baniya to the center. 'The name of the party president has also been raised, but it has been raised in a different context,' Bishwakarma said.

In this context, UML members of Jhapa-3 are asking - why is Oli calling his constituency 'Kakha' and other areas 'Pakha'?

The reason for the dissatisfaction becomes clearer if we look at the results of the recently concluded 11th UML general convention. 15 central members, including President Oli and Secretary Hikmat Kumar Karki, were elected from Jhapa-5.

Among them, Deepak Karki became a central member, while his wife Leela Kattel became a member of the Disciplinary Commission. KP Oli's relatives Romnath Oli, brothers Hom Bahadur Thapa and Govinda Thapa, former deputy mayor of Damak Nagar Geeta Adhikari, former minister and National Assembly member Devendra Dahal, former minister Agni Kharel, Sunita Baral, deputy mayor of Gauradaha Municipality Jalvarsha Rajbanshi, Nirmala Shiwakoti Pathak, Menuka Kafle and Indra Bhandari also reached the central structure.

While 15 people from Jhapa-5 reached the center, only two people each from Jhapa-4 and Jhapa-2 and one person from Jhapa-1 were represented. Not a single person from Jhapa-3 was made a central member. Due to which, the anger of UML voters in that area is increasing. ‘It is ironic that not a single person from the third constituency has been made a central member,’ said a long-time UML leader from Bhadrapur, ‘Why are we always ignored? This is the question the party leadership has.’

Oli has repeatedly become an MP from Jhapa-5 and the Prime Minister. Secretary Hikmat Kumar Karki is currently the Chief Minister of Koshi Province. Central member Devendra Dahal has become a National Assembly MP and even a minister. Dahal’s term as an MP is ending and there is talk of Deepak Karki getting a ticket from Jhapa-5 again.

Bhadrapur also has experienced leaders who have been working in the party for a long time like Yam Bahadur Shrestha, Til Bahadur Rai, Khemraj Kharel, Madhav Bidhohi. However, they have always been sidelined. They complain that they have not got any significant opportunities so far.

UML workers of Jhapa-3 are asking – ‘Why do we keep forming an organization if only the same person and the same area will get opportunities again and again?’ This question has been asked today in Jhapa-5.

What is more serious is that UML workers of Jhapa-3 have not been able to vote for the sun symbol for the past 10 years. In every parliamentary election, Oli has been forming an alliance with the royalist party RPP in Jhapa-3 to keep himself safe. Jhapa-3 is also the base area of ​​RPP.