In recent times, many had asked the outgoing Education Minister Mahabir Pun, "Aren't you going to contest the election too?"
To such questions, he usually replied that he had no interest in politics.
In the meantime, Sports Minister Bablu Gupta on Sunday and Communications Minister Jagadish Kharel on Monday resigned and announced they would contest the upcoming House election from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
There was significant criticism that it was not appropriate for ministers of a civilian election government to resign just to become candidates. However, critics also thanked ministers like Mahabir Pun who remained in the government.
But Pun suddenly resigned from his post on Tuesday, the day of filing nominations. Initially, the reason for his resignation was not clear.
Later, it was revealed that he had reached Myagdi early in the morning to file an independent candidacy.
After registering his nomination papers, Pun told journalists that he filed his candidacy to "ring the bell in people's minds."
"It's about ringing the bell in the mind, not a physical bell (RSP’s election symbol) to be rung," Pun said while speaking to correspondents after filing his nomination in Myagdi. "In our country, the youth also lack a sense of direction. There is only constant leg-pulling."
"Until the other day, I thought the youth might do something, but they won't do anything either," he continued. "All the youth say they want to be prime minister, but they don't cooperate with each other."
In this context, we spoke with Pun Wednesday morning. We asked him, "You used to say you wouldn't resign or contest the election. Suddenly, you did both. When did you decide to resign and run for office?"
In response, he said, "On the night of January 18, I thought about contesting the parliamentary election, and I made the decision then."
When asked for the reason behind his decision to contest the election, he said, "I wanted to bring three or four ordinances and regulations. If those had been completed, I would not have contested this election."
Pun states that his goal was to strengthen Nepal's education sector and the Ministry of Science through those ordinances and regulations.
"I wanted to improve the education sector and make the Science Ministry better, but I couldn't," Pun told Setopati. "Some of the ordinances I wanted to introduce had been submitted to the Council of Ministers and were at the Legislation Committee for further study. The regulations had also been drafted and had reached the final stage."
On Wednesday morning, Pun stated on his Facebook page that the chief secretary had blocked introduction of the ordinances and regulations.
"If the president and the Legislation Committee had accepted the three ordinances and four regulations that I wanted to bring—which are essential for making the country prosperous—I would not have contested this election. The chief secretary caused delays in creating a separate, strong Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Then I got angry and ran off to Myagdi," he stated.
Government officials claim that the ordinances and regulations Pun wanted to introduce were halted due to the election code of conduct. One official mentioned that laws and regulations of long-term importance cannot be introduced on the eve of an election, which is why they were put on hold.
When we asked Pun about this, he said, "I haven't been saying this just now. This is from before the code of conduct was implemented. I had been preparing for this since I became minister. After passing through various stages and even the Council of Ministers, it was moving forward, but it was stopped at the last moment."
"I tried until the final hour, but it didn't work out. Then I resigned and left to contest the election," he said.
He stated that after realizing he couldn't create the laws he wanted just by being a minister, he felt he needed to become a parliamentarian for that purpose.
Not only this, there are also rumors that his resignation was prompted by the Ministry of Finance not releasing the budget he requested as Education Minister.
We asked Pun about this as well. In response, he said he did not ask for the budget for personal gain but wanted to establish an innovation fund with that money.
"I wanted to establish an innovation fund for science and technology research. I had even proposed that as an ordinance," he said. "But they say things behind the scenes! They are talking nonsense!"
We also asked Pun what would happen to his National Innovation Center. Stating that he had already left the organization before becoming a minister, he said that new youths must be prepared in the field of technology.
Karna Bahadur Bhandari from Nepali Congress, Hari Krishna Shrestha from CPN-UML, Arjun Bahadur Thapa from NepalI Communist Party, and Yuva Raj Roka from Rastriya Swatantra Party are also contesting from Myagdi.
