Thapa appoints Mandal as minister of state to secure confidence vote

KATHMANDU: Chief Minister of Koshi Province Uddbhav Thapa, who is leading a coalition of four parties, has appointed Gayananda Mandal as the Minister of State as part of its strategy to secure a vote of confidence in the province assembly.

Mandal, who is from Nepali Congress (NC), is the eldest member of the province assembly. Since Mandal would have to run House proceedings as the eldest member if Deputy Speaker Sirjana Danuwar, who was elected from the main opposition CPN-UML, chooses to step down. To avoid this scenario, Thapa has appointed Mandal as the Minister of State. He, however, hsan’t been given any specific ministerial duties.

Should Deputy Speaker decide to resign at this juncture, the responsibility of overseeing the House would fall to Amar Bista of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). This transition would not impact Thapa’s government, given that the RPP is aligned with the main opposition UML.

UML has been maintaining that Deputy Speaker Danuwar will not be made to resign, as it could invite a constitutional crisis in the province assembly.

Thapa must seek a vote of confidence by August 29.

Since the four-party alliance and the opposition camp were evenly poised in the province assembly with 46 members each, the coalition made Speaker Babu Ram Gautam to resign so that it has 47 assembly members required to form the government.