KATHMANDU, JUNE 24

CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal today expressed his desire to become the prime minister again.

Addressing a programme organised by Nepal Mountaineers Association here today, Dahal said if he got another chance to lead the government, he would steer the country towards a new age.

'I had taken the lead to unify left forces. But I did not succeed and I do not want to talk much about that,' he said. 'But if I become the PM again with your blessings, I will steer the country towards a new age,' Dahal added. 'I want to take the country towards a new age because thousands of people sacrificed their lives under my leadership,' Dahal said referring to the Maoist cadres who died during the 10-year insurgency.

He said he had tried to unify left forces to ensure political stability, social justice, and development in the country, but did not succeed, as the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) that was formed with unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre was eventually dissolved.

Dahal said his first stint as prime minister ended without achieving any major goal, as he was new on the job. He said in his second innings as PM was much better than the first as he put the economy on the right path and held local polls by taking Madhesis into confidence.

'It was not an easy task to win confidence of all ethnic and linguistic groups and hold elections,' he said. He added that he also succeeded in winning the confidence of neigbouring countries.

Dahal said he would devote his life to the country's economic development and prosperity. He claimed that he had made honest efforts to spur development when he was the prime minister.

Political analyst Uddhab Pyakurel said Dahal, whose party did fairly well in the recently held local elections at a time when UML supporters and left leaning intellectuals had written off his party, had all the reasons to project himself as the next prime minister at least for half of the five-year term.

He said the CPN-MC performed better in places where it had contested local polls on its own without the support from other ruling alliance partners.'If the current ruling alliance continues, CPN-MC would emerge as the second largest party. If it joins another coalition, it is likely to emerge as the third largest party but in a better position than in the last parliamentary elections,' Pyakurel said. As the chairman of the second or the third largest party, Dahal was well within his rights to claim premiership in coalition-era politics. 'In CPN-Maoist Centre there is no other leader who can rival Dahal's claim for premiership,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 25, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.