Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Minister of State at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Umesh Shrestha have returned back to Kathmandu failing to convince rebel Nepali Congress (NC) candidate in Bharatpur Metropolitan City.
NC President and Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba had sent the two ministers to Chitwan on Wednesday to convince rebel candidate Jagannath Paudel to withdraw candidacy and support CPN (Maoist Center) candidate Renu Dahal.
Talking to reporters at Bharatpur Airport before returning to Kathmandu Khand expressed hope that Paudel will take a wise decision. “We talked with friends in Chitwan on behalf of the party. We also listened to them. Hope they will take a wise decision,” he stated.
He went to Paudel’s home on Thursday and urged the latter to withdraw his candidacy but Paudel refused.
Deuba also phoned Paudel later on the day and asked him to withdraw his candidacy. Paudel in response said that he has moved a long way ahead and NC cadres in Chitwan will take decision about his candidacy.
NC leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal also phoned the rebel candidate and urged him to withdraw his candidacy but to no avail.
Talking to Setopati earlier on Friday Paudel said he is under pressure from the local cadres to not withdraw candidacy and will not be swayed by greed for assurances given by the top leaders. “Hundreds of cadres have been boosting my morale coming to my home. Teams are coming from villages. I have been receiving support that I never thought of,” he stated.
He revealed that he has told top party leaders that he used to obey everything they told in the past but he is at the point of no return now and cannot withdraw his candidacy.
He argued that there is no ground for the party to punish him as his candidacy is not against an NC candidate with election symbol tree but a coalition candidate. He stated that he is ready to face the consequences even if the party decides to take action against him.
