Bhim Rawal was considered to be the reason the then Khanal-Nepal faction of CPN-UML was strong in Far West.
Chief Minister (CM) from CPN (Maoist Center) Trilochan Bhatta passed the floor test in the province on June 8 after 17 UML lawmakers defied the instruction from center and voted for the government.
It was expected that UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli will be able to hold on to most of the leaders and cadres in the province after Rawal refused to join the new party of Madhav Kumar Nepal and opted to remain in UML.
But 13 of those defiant 17 UML lawmakers have joined CPN (Unified Socialist) and just four remain with Rawal now.
CPN (Unified Socialist) claims that one more lawmaker will join the new party. If that happens CPN (Unified Socialist) will be the largest party in the 52-strong provincial assembly. Maoist Center has 13 lawmakers and UML will have just 11.
The recent developments have showed that Rawal was strong in the province due to Nepal and not the other way round. Central member of CPN (Unified Socialist) Garima Shah calls this assumption that Rawal was strong in the province on his own and in turn made Nepal stronger there an illusion and attributed that to the wrong perception of Kathmandu about the province.
"Kathmandu felt as if there are no persons other than Bhim Rawal in the Far West. This has also happened as the party made a single individual strong and powerful," she added. "Many persons were tired as the party only consulted a single individual and took decisions accordingly. There were many competent persons but they did not get exposure. The developments have showed powers of the persons concerned."
She stressed that the leaders in the province chose camps in the UML on ideological grounds and not due to any individual. "When leaders above focused on vested interests instead of agenda and ideology, we rebelled feeling when will we struggle if not at this age," she reasoned. "This has showed that there is a large proportion of cadres in the Far West to form the party."
