Gandaki Province Chief Minister Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokharel has sacked Energy Minister Hari Sharan Acharya following allegations that he had been electioneering against the ruling coalition candidate in Gorkha.
CM Pokharel’s press coordinator Bharat Koirala informed Setopati that the Office of the Chief Minister has sent a letter recommending Minister Acharya’s dismissal to the Office of the Province Chief on Tuesday.
Chandi Prasad Aryal, spokesperson for the Office of the Province Chief, told Setopati that the office has received the letter regarding Minister Acharya's dismissal from the chief minister’s office.
Acharya is a leader of the Baburam Bhattarai-led Nepal Samajwadi Party (NSP). He was elected to the provincial assembly from Gorkha-2 (A) from the then Naya Shakti Party in the 2017 general election.
He wanted to run for the provincial assembly from the same constituency this time too, but NSP fielded Phanindra Devkota as the party’s candidate on the Maoist Center’s election symbol. A disgruntled Acharya then filed rebel candidacy on October 9.
He later withdrew his candidacy following pressure from party chair Bhattarai and others, but started facing accusations of not openly supporting the ruling coalition candidate in the constituency.
After receiving information that Acharya had been covertly campaigning for another party’s candidate, district-level leaders of NSP and Maoist Center had been constantly putting pressure on Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, NSP Chairman Bhattarai and Gandaki CM Pokharel for the past few days to remove Acharya from his post.
He was also accused of campaigning against Maoist Center Chairman Dahal, who is the ruling coalition’s common candidate for the House of Representatives election from Gorkha-2.
