Nepali Congress Leader Shekhar Koirala's Campaign Material Sparks Controversy Over Claiming Government Projects as Personal Achievements

Biratnagar. The green-colored work description booklet released by Nepali Congress leader and House of Representatives candidate for Morang Constituency No. 6, Dr. Shekhar Koirala, has become a subject of discussion and controversy.

Dr. Koirala has included development projects mentioned in the 'Red Book' (the official budget document) allocated by the government and being implemented by local levels, claiming them as his own initiatives in his 'Green Book'. This list contains over 450 projects worth approximately 2.24 billion rupees.

The booklet, published by the main publicity committee of Nepali Congress Morang Constituency No. 6, presents a list of development works to be carried out from the fiscal year 2080/81 to 2083 BS. The booklet details hundreds of small and large projects operating in various wards of Biratnagar Metropolitan City, Sundarharaicha Municipality, and Budhiganga Rural Municipality.

The booklet includes projects such as road paving, drain construction, temple and community building construction, embankment, and water supply, with budgets ranging from 5 lakh to 10 crore rupees. Generally, projects included in the annual budget are referred to as the 'Red Book'. These projects are implemented under the regular process of the state using taxes paid by the public. However, Dr. Koirala, during his election campaign, presented all these government projects as achievements resulting from his party's and his personal initiatives.

Devraj Tamang, coordinator of the main publicity committee for Nepali Congress Morang-6, stated that the list of works done through Dr. Koirala's initiative was distributed. Tamang said, 'These projects came through Dr. Koirala's initiative. This data was compiled to inform the public about which projects and how much budget was allocated through the wards and municipalities during Dr. Koirala's three-year tenure. Shouldn't we tell the public what we have done when they ask what you did?'

Meanwhile, Lalbabu Pandit, an UML leader and election commander for Constituency No. 6, claimed that 350 of those development projects were implemented during his tenure. Pandit was elected from the same constituency in the House of Representatives election in 2074 BS. Pandit stated, 'More than 350 projects there were first inaugurated by me and came during my term, not by Dr. Koirala. It is not good to take credit for work not done and to speak falsehoods (fake things).'

The booklet also copied projects that clearly mention the budget headings of the Federal Government. Because of this, opposition parties and local level representatives criticize it, saying that 'credit is being taken for work done from the state treasury'. Saroj Karki of Biratnagar-12 criticized this by posting a video on social media, saying that parties claim credit even for regular work done by the ward. Karki said, 'He has distributed a list of regular work done by the ward. He expects us to vote for him after seeing this.'

Pages 11 and 12 of the booklet clearly mention the government code and budget amount for projects under the Ministry of Urban Development. This is a verbatim copy of government records. Even small projects of 5 lakh and 10 lakh allocated by ward and municipality levels are shown as the initiative of a central leader. Furthermore, many projects slated for completion by 2083 BS, which are not yet completed or are still in process, have been included in the list of completed works.

Similarly, local UML leader Binod Ghimire stated that all projects listed by Budhiganga Rural Municipality and Sundarharaicha Municipality that fall within their area are being publicized as if he (Dr. Koirala) did them all.

Although showing lists of development projects to woo voters is an old practice just before elections, political analysts have called the distribution of regular work done from the state treasury like a party manifesto a 'question of ethics'.

Congress workers, however, claim that these budgets were channeled into Morang-6 through the initiative of Dr. Shekhar Koirala, referring to it as a progress report. But the general public is questioning whether the drain construction done by the ward and the road maintenance done by the municipality also came from the leader's pocket.