ITAHARI: The Koshi Province Assembly is scheduled for a significant event on Monday – Chief Minister Uddhab Thapa’s floor test. However, a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over the meeting as Deputy Speaker Srijana Danuwar has stated that she won’t be able to attend the assembly meeting.
Rebati Raman Bhandari, UML’s Chief Whip in the province assembly, said that whether to participate in the province assembly session rests with the Deputy Speaker. “We have not issued any directives to our assembly members regarding boycotting the province assembly session. Perhaps, they are dealing with personal matters,” he added.
The province assembly is already without a Speaker following Babu Ram Gautam’s resignation from the position supporting Thapa’s bid to form a government.
The province assembly has formed a four-member presidium responsible for conducting province assembly affairs in the absence of both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The presidium comprises Israil Mansuri from Nepali Congress (NC), Ambar Bahadur Bista of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Malati Subba of CPN-UML, and Geeta Timsina of CPN (Maoist Center).
However, Bista and Subba have already apprised the province assembly of their inability to attend the session due to personal reasons. Consequently, only two Nepali Congress and Maoist Center representatives remain in the presidium. Should either of them assume the role of presiding over the province assembly session, Chief Minister Thapa will not get a vote of confidence.
In addition, eight senior-most province assembly members affiliated with CPN-UML have also communicated their unavailability for the assembly meeting slated for Monday.
Thapa currently enjoys the support of 47 members from the four-party ruling coalition out of the total 93 members in the province assembly. On the other side, opposition parties comprise 46 members, including the Deputy Speaker.
Bhupendra Rai, Chief Whip of Nepali Congress, expressed hope that Deputy Speaker Danuwar would not miss the assembly session since she was the one who scheduled the meeting. “Should the Deputy Speaker abstain from attending the province assembly session, we will explore legal remedies. Nevertheless, we remain optimistic that she will preside over the proceedings,” Rai added.
