KATHMANDU: UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel has raised questions over who should receive credit for Nepal’s load-shedding-free initiative, following the launch of the Ujyalo Nepal Party led by former Nepal Electricity Authority Managing Director Kulman Ghising.
In a post on social media, Pokharel suggested that while the Ujyalo Nepal Party has claimed to spearhead the plan, the initiative was actually implemented under the leadership of then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in 2015. According to Pokharel, the Oli government had announced a target to make Nepal load-shedding free within a year and had issued directives for its implementation.
He noted that even after the Oli government fell in mid-2016, the subsequent administration continued the work, officially declaring the end of load-shedding in Nepal by November 2016.
Pokharel further criticized the current narrative, claiming that the campaigner and executor of the initiative was Oli himself, while the new party is portraying Ghising as its key advocate. His remarks came a day after the launch of the Ujyalo Nepal Party, highlighting the distinction between the original plan and the party’s claim.
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