Yogesh Bhattarai becomes tourism minister

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has appointed Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai as a new minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation today.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly appointed minister amid a ceremony at the Sheetal Niwas. Since the then minister Rabindra Adhikari was killed in a chopper crash in Taplejung district on February 27, the Ministry remained without leadership. The tourism portfolio had been vacant after the demise of Rabindra Adhikari on February 27 in a helicopter crash in Taplejung. Since last five montsh, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had been handling the responsibility of Tourism Ministry.
Tourism Ministry is one of the most important portfolios in the current administration as the country is celebrating Visit Nepal 2020 to host one million tourists. But the campaign has been delayed also due to absence of the minister.
Bhattarai assuming his duties, soon after the oath, said that he will sincerely follow up on the pending workloads of the ministry. “Late minister Adhikari would have done much in this sector, if not for his untimely demise,” he said, adding that he will do his best to continue the work.
The newly appointed minister will have though many challenges but making VNY 2020 a success, apart from completing construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa – before the new deadline of December – and completing Pokhara Regional Airport and starting second international airport in Nojgadh, are few of the challenges that he has to face.
Likewise, turning around the loss-making Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is yet another challenge that he has to pass, apart from removing Nepali aviation sector from European Union (EU) blacklist.
Bhattarai (52), who has elected from Taplejung, has been overseeing the publicity department of the Nepal Communist party (NCP). Given Bhattarai’s experience heading the UML’s publicity department, many had predicted that the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology would fall into his lap.
During the electoral campaign in 2017, Oli had promised the people of Taplejung that Bhattarai would be elevated to a minister, if they elected him. But Bhattarai could not find berth in Oli’s Cabinet because he belonged to the Oli’s opponent Madhav Kumar Nepal faction.
In 1995, Bhattarai was elected as president of the UML’s student wing, the All-Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU). Soon after, he was elected central member of the party during the eighth national convention, held in Butwal. In 2014, after a successful stint in student politics and leaving his mark as a central committee member, Bhattarai was elected a secretary at the ninth national convention. Following the merger of the UML with the Maoist Centre last May, Bhattarai became one of the party’s 45 standing committee members.