Himal Press 
File Photo
KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah has urged former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai to contest elections and ensure his presence in Parliament.
During a meeting in Lalitpur on Thursday, Shah said since there were no visionary lawmakers in the dissolved Parliament, Dr Bhattarai must be a member of the next Parliament, a leader close to Dr Bhattarai said.
Referring to the 2022 House of Representatives election, in which Dr Bhattarai vacated the Gorkha-2 constituency for Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Mayor Shah urged him to contest the upcoming election. “You would have won the election—why did you leave the seat for Prachanda?” a leader close to Bhattarai, who was present at the meeting, told Himal Press.
Stating that Bhattarai has worked hard for alternative politics, Shah told him that it was not enough to remain merely an abstract guardian. “You have put in so much effort for alternative politics. In the last Parliament, there was no visionary figure; Pradeep Giri was also not there. You must now contest elections. You must be in Parliament. Being an abstract guardian will not do; you must be in Parliament,” the leader quoted Balen as saying.
After the meeting, Dr Bhattarai told journalists that he had come to advise new and alternative political forces to move forward in unity. “I told them that all new and alternative forces should move ahead together, focus on new ideas and agendas, and that they would have my support,” Bhattarai said.
