Elected in 1995 as President of the All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU), he served as Secretary of CPN-UML, Head of the Publicity Department, and Member of the Party's Standing Committee from 2015 to 2018.

[2] After the merger of CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist), he called on both KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal to retire from active politics.

Elected in 1995 as President of the All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU), he served as Secretary of CPN UML, Head of the Publicity Department, and Member of the Party's Standing Committee from 2015 to 2018.

Bhattarai, the then minister of culture, tourism and civil aviation arrived the airport late after attending Dolphin Festival at Tikapur, Kailali and was faced with furious passengers, dissatisfied with the abuse of power.

[8] The protestors were initially claiming that Bhattarai had boarded the flight nearly an hour late but the civil aviation officials at Nepalgunj airport later verified that the minister had caused the delay of only 15 minutes.

[11] In January 2020, Yogesh Bhattarai faced criticism in social media for organizing Visit Nepal 2020 promotional campaign in Sydney amid 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.

[12] Nepali community expressed their dissatisfaction for the timing of the event, when Australia's own tourism body halted Kylie Minogue's Matesong ad campaign.

[13] The tourism minister was also criticized for a march rally to the Sydney Opera House which was stopped by the police, as organizers had no permission to hold such event.