KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai has appealed to party ranks to unite and focus on the upcoming elections.
Bhattarai, whose candidacy was denied by Chair KP Sharma Oli for challenging him, released a video message Monday urging everyone to work together to ensure victory for UML candidates in the House of Representatives polls.
He also revealed that he had expressed a dissenting opinion in the Secretariat meeting regarding the party’s candidate selection criteria. Bhattarai submitted a written four-point dissent at the party’s central office and said he would discuss and review these issues with Oli after the elections.
For now, he emphasized, all members should concentrate on election preparations. Bhattarai will participate in the candidacy filing program in his home district of Taplejung and encouraged party members to engage actively in campaigns across their respective constituencies.
In Taplejung, sources said, Oli granted tickets to loyalists who would counter Bhattarai’s influence, effectively sidelining him. Similarly, tickets for Bhattarai in other constituencies and for Gokul Baskota in Kavre-2 were withheld. Oli is said to have denied tickets to several leaders from the Ishwar Pokharel faction who had challenged him at the 11th General Convention, in a move seen as consolidating his control over the party.
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