Nepali Congress (NC) leaders in Chitwan seem intent on not giving up the mayorship of Bharatpur Metropolitan City again to CPN (Maoist Center).
Renu Dahal, daughter of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was controversially elected mayor in the last general election after NC's leadership in the last hour instructed the party's candidate Dinesh Koirala to withdraw his candidacy and support Renu in the election.
Maoist Chairman Dahal had quipped that the party will stake claim for mayor of Bharatpur when he reached Chitwan on Thursday a day after NC central committee meeting decided to forge electoral alliance on the basis of local needs.
But local NC leaders seem adamant to not give away the post this time. The meeting of Chitwan Congress on Sunday decided to ally with the ruling coalition in local bodies but also stressed that it will not give up mayorship of Bharatpur.
The five-party ruling coalition held a meeting in Chitwan on Sunday and issued a statement saying discussion will be moved ahead forming joint mechanism in all local bodies in the district. But NC Vice-president in Chitwan Rajeev Neupane revealed that the party clearly told coalition partners that it can hold discussion for all the posts in the district but will not give up mayorship of Bharatpur at any cost.
NC central members from Chitwan Tek Prasad Gurung and Dinesh Koirala had demanded during the recent central committee meeting that the party should not opt for alliance in the district. Gurung went ahead and warned that NC cadres will vote for the UML candidate if the NC leadership decides to once again make Renu Dahal the mayoral candidate on behalf of the coalition.
The Shekhar Koirala faction of NC has been insisting that the grand old party should contest the local election on its own across the country and addressing a party program in the district a few weeks back NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa had assured that the center will respect the aspirations of party cadres to vote on tree.
NC's leadership has also increased pressure on Maoist Center to stake claim for mayorship in Bharatpur owing to pressure from party leaders and cadres in the district. An NC leader in Chitwan confided that the cadres are ready to vote for Maoist Chairman Dahal in the general election from Chitwan-3 but will not give up Bharatpur mayorship at any cost.
But it will be difficult even for Maoist Center to give up the post as Bharatpur is the only metropolitan city across the country where the party can realistically claim for mayorship within the coalition.
Speaking to Setoapti last week Renu Dahal had stated that she has no personal desire to be repeated as Bharatpur mayor but hinted that she can again become candidate if the party and caders were to assign the responsibility once again.
Maoist Coordinator in the district Ram Chandra Adhikari told Setopati that Bharatpur mayorship is the first choice, prestige and need of the party and there is no possibility of giving up the post to anyone. "Renu Dahal will once again be candidate for mayor," he quipped.
NC central member Dinesh Koirala who is in race for mayoral candidacy from NC along with Gurung, Surya Kanta Ghimire, Uttam Joshi, Prakash Adhikari, Milan Babu Shrestha and Shankar Kandel among others, on the other hand, pointed that the ruling coalition will unravel even in other local bodies in the district if NC does not get Bharatpur mayorship.
Koirala is from the Shekhar Koirala faction that is dominant inside the party in the district.
UML likely to repeat Devi Gyawali
UML is discussing about repeating Devi Parsad Gyawali who controversially lost the last election to Renu Dahal after Maoist cadres tore the ballots during vote counting when Dahal looked set to lose the election to force a reelection in a ward that helped her emerge victorious by a slender margin.
A party leader in the district confided with Setopati that Gyawali will be repeated unless he himself refuses to contest fearing that losing the election once again may finish his political career.
Federal lawmaker Krishna Bhakta Pokharel and provincial lawmaker Bijay Subedi are also considered to be in the race even though Pokharel told Setopati that he does not wish to climb down to the local election having already become federal lawmaker.
The main opposition party is calculating that it will benefit if the ruling coalition again decides to field Renu Dahal to the chagrin of NC cadres.
Arithmetic in Bharatpur
A total of 35,478 voters have been added since the last local election in Bharatpur. Renu Dahal had secured 43,127 votes as 112,897 voters out of 150,274 exercised their franchise. A total of 1,424 votes were invalid. Gyawali had secured 42,924 votes.
UML had won ward chairs in 14 out of the 29 wards in Bharatpur, NC 12 and Maoist Center three but NC ward chair candidates (38,127) had secured more votes than UML's (37,195). Maoist candidates had secured a total of 21,115 votes.
The ruling coalition in this way looks strong even this time with UML splitting to form CPN (Unified Socialist) which is part of the five-party coalition now along with Janata Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janamorcha.
UML is open to alliance with RPP that had secured 6,842 votes in the last election but its mayoral candidate Badri Prasad Timalsina has since joined Maoist Center.
