KATHMANDU, JANUARY 9
CPN-UML leader and former home minister Khagaraj Adhikari has been appointed chief minister by Gandaki Province Governor Prithvi Man Gurung.
After submitting his claim with the support of 33 members this afternoon at 3:30pm, Province Governor Gurung appointed Adhikari as chief minister. He submitted his claim with the support of 33 members, including Rajiv Gurung alias Deepak Manange, who joined the Unified Socialist Party, including 22 from the UML, eight from the Maoists and two from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which has also joined the federal alliance.
It all happened after the Maoist centre changed the equation at the last moment giving Adhikari the opportunity to become the third chief minister of Gandaki. With the support of CPN-UML, Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the prime minister in the federal government and the equation changed automatically in Gandaki Province.
Adhikari, who was elected to the Provincial Assembly from Kaski Constituency-1, had become the minister of health and home minister in the federal government. Province Governor Gurung had given five days, that is the 5th of January to claim the position of chief minister according to Article 168 of the constitution. At least 31 members are required for a simple majority in the 60-member Gandaki Province Assembly.
Chief Minister Adhikari had become home minister in the government led by KP Sharma Oli. At the time when the Parliament was dissolved, Adhikari had the opportunity to become the home minister for 13 days. Before that, he was the Health and Population minister in 2014 when Sushil Koirala was the prime minister. It is said that when he was the health minister, Adhikari did a remarkable job in favour of the common people by starting health insurance.
Adhikari, who has been elected to the House of Representatives twice and has become a minister, won the election from the left alliance in the 2017 election. He defeated Yagya Bahadur Thapa of NC. This time he contested the election with the support of CPN-UML and won.
Adhikari contested elections in the province this time with the aim of becoming chief minister of Gandaki. Adhikari, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 and 2017, defeated the then Congress leader Taranath Ranabhat in 1990. Adhikari, who started his journey to Parliament in 1994, was appointed a whip by the then leader of the UML parliamentary party Manmohan Adhikari.
Adhikari was defeated in the elections of 1992, 2000 and 2008. After he was defeated in the first Constituent Assembly election in 2007, he did not get a ticket in 2014. After winning the election from Kaski in 2017, he became the chief whip of UML.
In the UML, Adhikari is head of the organisation department. Adhikari, who was jailed together with UML President Oli during the Panchayat era, entered politics in 1973. At that time, he was the president of Anand Jyoti Secondary School. From the year 1973, Adhikari joined active politics.
In 1981, he became a member of the Central Independent Students Union and became the president of Prithvi Narayan Campus Pokhara in 1984-85. Adhikari became the vice-president of the Central Committee of (All Nepal National Free Students Union) ANNFSU, the secretary of UML Kaski and the president of the district committee.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
