KATHMANDU: Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ambika Basnet has said that it was only democratic governance that could help improve the living standard of the low-income people.

Speaking at a programme held at BP Museum in Sundarijal, Minister Basnet said a totalitarian attitude cannot alleviate poverty.

Basnet, who is also a candidate to the House of Representatives from Kathmandu Constituency-3, said, “The ideals of BP to consider the poor while developing plans is still relevant and that will be the basis for the Nepali Congress to move ahead.”

At the programme, BP Museum Chair Parsuram Pokharel, constituency-3 provincial assembly candidates Tshering Dorje Lama, and Bimal Thakuri and PR candidate for the provincial assembly Ram Lal Shrestha expressed the view that the upcoming elections was a referendum between the choice of one-party autocracy or multi-party democratic system.