CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri has said that the party will stake claim for 24 House of Representatives (HoR) seats in the upcoming elections.
Talking to Setopati, Jhakri has pointed that 24 HoR members, including 12 elected through the proportional representation (PR) system, had rebelled in CPN-UML and there has been agreement to include all of them.
"We will have claims in 24 places as per that. But 12 of the 24 came through the PR system. We believe that top coalition leaders will take wise decision on how many constituencies our party will get to contest in," she stated.
She has added that the party, formed after splitting from the main opposition UML, received 900,000 votes including those from coalition partners in the recent local election and claimed that 350,000 of those votes are the party's own votes.
She has also revealed that she will not remain in the PR list this time like she had done in the last election and will contest election from either Gulmi or Kathmandu. "The area where I have worked or feel ownership of or where my guardians live is Gulmi-2. There is pressure on me to contest from there. There are also talks about contesting from Kathmandu. Gulmi is the priority for me. Another alternative is Kathmandu. We also have to wait for how agreement is reached in the coalition."
She has ruled out unification of the party with UML or CPN (Maoist Center) and pointed that the left parties in the ruling coalition are only trying to form a socialist alliance within the ruling coalition. She has also ruled out her return to UML individually pointing that she has always had ideological differences with UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli. "I have equal contribution n forming this party as Madhav Kumar Nepal or others. I see boundless opportunities for myself in this party."
She has also refuted claims that her relationship with Unified Socialsit Chairman Nepal has deteriorated after she was removed as minister pointing that the she was busy in a few personal works after being relieved of ministerial duties and have now returned to party works. "We all former ministers are busy in party works. I have also attended party programs with chairman. There is no truth in rumors that I am not in speaking terms with chairman. We all are focused on election-focused activities."
She has clarified that her criticism of Nepal laying foundation stone of a project when she was urban development minister was due to her principles of cutting public expenses and responsible use of the exchequer as the project had not even entered contract process . "I criticized on the issue of taking chairman to lay foundation stone to make him happy. That does not affect internal politics in the party in any way."
