AUG 15: The election of the House of Representatives (HoR) and provincial assemblies are scheduled for November 20 later this year. The party registration for the election is coming to an end in the next three days. Political parties, candidates and leaders are busy holding their election campaigns.
The ruling alliance of Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Sociaist), Janata Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha Party are up against the main opposition party CPN-UML and other political parties in the upcoming election. The ruling alliance has already decided to forge an electoral alliance.
In this scenario, Ratopati has talked with the Deputy General Secretary of CPN-UML, Bishnu Rimal.
How is UML’s preparation for the upcoming polls going on?
Recently on Thursday, we held a party's secretariat meeting focusing on the upcoming polls. We are soon to hold meetings of the standing committee, central committee and politburo. These meetings will finalize our plans for the polls.
It won’t be wrong to say that election manifestos of political parties are paper oriented only. Why is it so?
I think it is just an acquisition against political parties. It is not true that the party in power prepares policies and budgets contradicting its manifesto.
While we were in power, we used to read our manifesto everytime we prepared policies and acted. Our fifteenth plan was prepared on its basis and according to which the government’s policies and program was prepared.
If so, why don’t we get results then?
I don’t think so. As far as I see, we got it. For example, road construction, electricity, social development, gender equality, social security, health insurance, child development, etc, are all linked with our manifesto.
The public voted for the leftist alliance. They trusted you. And once you were in power, you began to construct view towers rather than industries. How many new opportunities of employment did you create apart from making people clean roadsides in the name of the Prime Minister Employment Program?
Firstly, People should not be making views based on their understanding only. Didn’t the National Reconstruction Authority established after the earthquake give employment opportunities to people?
Secondly, is cleaning the roads not a job? Isn’t it fair to let unemployed people clean the road and pay rather than paying them without letting them do anything? Didn’t the Constitution guarantee 100 days of job opportunities to unemployed people? It is not what the unemployed people did. It is whether they got to earn or not. The Prime Minister Employment Program has created as many as 2,200,000 jobs in a year.
Likewise, if constructing a view tower provides employment opportunities then what is wrong with it?
Government could have used that fund to establish industries. No?
Yes. It could have.
It was your party that sold dreams of waterways, trains and availability of cooking gasses through pipelines in every house and while your party came to power you dissolved the parliament and got involved in politics rather than sticking to your words.
Is it not possible to have trains and waterways in our country? It is but it takes time. It is not something that can be achieved in a day or two.
The ruling alliance is pursuing the voters not to vote for CPN-UML that dissolved the parliament twice. What do you have to say?
If so then it will be their responsibility to clarify the rights of the Prime Minister. In our part, we have already done that. The party dissolved the parliament just to safeguard our manifesto and demanded an election. There was no environment for us to carry out our plans and programs that we had mentioned in our manifesto.
The then PM KP Sharma Oli has been defending himself, maintaining that others did not let him work. How fair is it to not be able to organize one's own party and to dissolve the parliament in anger?
That’s a different issue. But, constitutionally, the PM has the right to dissolve the parliament.
You mean to say that CPN-UML took a right move and will advocate same during the upcoming elections?
Yes. House dissolution was a right move and our future Prime Ministers should have the right to do the same.
On what basis is the CPN-UML maintaining that it will form a majority government?
We will contest in the upcoming polls with a strong agenda and voters will love our agenda. The local polls have already indicated that voters vote for an agenda not a party or candidate. Our agendas are ‘Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali’, Socialism and transformative works. If voters believe us, then we will be able to form a government.
How many votes will the CPN-UML garner?
We will be able to collect enough votes to form a government. If voters love our agenda, no one can defeat us. Agenda was the reason why independent candidates won local elections at Dharan, Dhangadi and Kathmandu.
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