Koshi govt has lost the right to rule: UML

ITAHARI: Chief Whip of CPN-UML in Koshi Province Assembly, Rebati Raman Bhandari, on Thursday said governments lose the right to rule after falling into a minority.

Speaking in the meeting of the Koshi Province Assembly after tabling a resolution motion to put pressure on Chief Minister Kedar Karki to step down, Bhandari said the resolution motion is aimed at upholding the supremacy of the province assembly. “If the Chief Minister does not pave the way to end the crisis even after the resolution is passed, and if there is an infringement on the special privileges of the provincial assembly, we may even have to knock the doors of the court,” he said. “The Chief Minister can pave the way before the resolution is adopted.”

Bhandari claimed that Karki’s government has fallen into a minority after the UML and CPN (Maoist Center) withdrew their votes of confidence. “After falling into minority, it is not permissible to remain in the government by going against the parliamentary supremacy,” Bhandari said. “Parliamentary supremacy means that the majority rules and the minority remains in opposition.”

Province assembly members of CPN-UML, Maoist Center, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Janata Samajbadi Party sat on the opposition benches on Thursday. Similarly, assembly members of Nepali Congress and CPN (Unified Socialist) sat on the ruling side. This means Chief Minister Kedar Karki only has the support of 29 members from his party Nepali Congress and four from the Unified Socialist. The opposition on the other hand has 58 members in the 93-member province assembly.

Chief Minister Kedar Karki, however, has been refusing to step down even after losing the majority. He has been arguing that since his government was formed as per the last option prescribed in the constitution, the province assembly will head to the mid-term polls if he were to step down.

n Thursday’s Provincial Assembly meeting, 58 MPs from the UML (39), Maoists (13), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (5), and Janata Samajbadi Party (1) sat on the opposition benches. In the 93-member Provincial Assembly, only 29 from the Nepali Congress and 4 from the Unified Samajbadi Party sat on the ruling side