KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 28

Prime Minister and Chair of CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal has offered a political post to senior party leader Haribol Gajurel who was denied ticket for the parliamentary elections held on November 20, but the latter opted for executive role within the party.

Dahal's offer of political post to Gajurel has been interpreted as post of vice-president which the CPN-MC is likely to get. The post of the president will go to the CPN- UML, the biggest partner in the ruling coalition. The post of the president and vice-president will fall vacant in the second week of March.

Gajurel said Dahal offered him the political post yesterday, without naming the post.

'Since it was reported that the CPN-MC would get the post of vice-president, many people are interpreting that Dahal's utterance meant that the post of vice-president was for me,' Gajurel said.

Gajurel said he wanted to contribute to the party's efforts to transform the party that had emerged as the largest force after the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections, but was losing its support base ever since.

In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the CPN-MC was relegated to third position with 53 seats. This time, the party again finished third but with much reduced strength of 32 seats. 'We lost our strength because people who expected us to be different from traditional forces felt that we were no different,' Gajurel said, adding that the CPN-MC which played a vital role in introducing federalism in the country did not do enough to implement it.

Gajurel said he had already served as member of the Parliament and a cabinet minister and hence he wanted to remain active in politics by working for the party to rejuvenate it.

'I have been telling our party chair to stand firm on his ground without caring about getting or not getting any political opportunity,' he said.

He added that his party could be transformed if the party leaders worked hard with the same spirit that they had demonstrated during the Maoist insurgency. 'During the insurgency period we knew that we could be killed, yet we fought for our political cause. Now we need to work with the same selfless spirit,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.