GORKHA, NOVEMBER 8
Gandaki Province Chief Minister Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokhrel sacked Minister of Energy Hari Sharan Acharya from his post today.
CM Pokhrel relieved Acharya of his responsibility after he was accused of soliciting votes against CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is contesting parliamentary elections from Constituency No 2 of Gorkha.
The chief minister's Press Coordinator Bharat Koirala said the letter sacking Acharya was sent to the Office of the Province Governor. Spokesperson for the Office of the Governor Chandi Prasad Aryal confirmed that the office had received the letter.
Acharya was elected to the provincial assembly from Gorkha-1A from the then Naya Shakti Party in the last election. He wanted to contest provincial assembly election from the same constituency again. But, Nepal Samajbadi Party fielded Phadindra Devkota to contest the polls using the CPN-Maoist Centre's election symbol from Gorkha- 1A. An infuriated Acharya then filed his nomination from the same constituency as an independent candidate. Following pressure from Baburam Bhattarai, Acharya withdrew his candidacy, but has been facing criticism for not soliciting votes for candidates of the ruling alliance.
Samajbadi and Maoist Centre's district-level leaders had pressed NC and Maoist Centre leadership to remove Acharya from the post of minister.
A district leader of Samajbadi Party said that Acharya was working clandestinely to defeat Phadindra Devkota in the November 20 polls. A Maoist leader said they had asked Baburam Bhattarai and Dahal to relieve Acharya of his responsibility.
Acharya has been accused of soliciting votes for UML's Raju Rana against Devkota in PA polls.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 9, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
