ITAHARI: The Koshi Province Government has fallen into minority with the decision of the CPN (Maoist Center) to withdraw support from the Hikmat Bahadur Karki-led government.
A joint meeting of the Maoist Center’s Koshi Province Committee and the province parliamentary committee on Tuesday took the decision to part ways with the coalition government. Maoist Center’s ministers in the province government – Durga Prasad Chapagain and Jeevan Acharya – have subsequently tendered their resignations. Acharya was the Minister for Physical Planning and Development, while Acharya was looking after the tourism, forest, and environment portfolio. Both were appointed on January 9. Earlier, Minister of Health Nirmala Limbu, a province assembly member of Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), had stepped down.
This means Chief Minister has the support of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and his party CPN-UML only. The two parties have a combined 46 members – one short of the magic number of 47 to form government in the province.
Now that Maoist Center has withdrawn its support, Chief Minister Karki must seek a vote of confidence within 30 days. If he fails to secure a vote of confidence, his government will automatically fall.
Meanwhile, parties have started internal preparation to form a coalition government under their leadership. Maoist Center has clearly stated that it withdrew support from the Karki-led government to form a government under its own leadership. However, it won’t be easy for the party to forge a power-sharing deal as its assembly member is serving as the Speaker in the provincial assembly.
Nepali Congress (NC) Chief Whip in the provincial assembly, Bhupendra Rai, told Himal Press that the NC’s parliamentary party has decided to make its parliamentary party leader Uddhav Thapa the next Chief Minister. Rai claimed that an understanding has already been reached to form a government under NC’s leadership at the center. “The new developments have opened the path to form a new government in the province. We have decided to take needful initiatives to form the next government under our leadership,” Rai added.
While UML and RPP have a combined 46 members in the 93-member province assembly, the opposition camp has 47 members – 29 from NC, 13 from the Maoist Center (including the Speaker), four from CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from JSP.
Budget through ordinance
After the Maoist Center withdrew its support, the Karki-led government started preparation to bring the budget for the 2023/24 fiscal year through an ordinance. The province government also couldn’t bring its policies and programs.
Province governments were required to bring their policies and programs for the next fiscal year on June 4.
Revati Raman Bhandari, the chief whip of CPN-UML in the Koshi Province Assembly, said preparations were underway to bring the budget through a new way considering the new situation in the province.
Sources say the province government is planning to bring the budget on June 16 through an ordinance. This means Chief Minister Hikmat Bahadur Karki will recommend the Province Chief to prorogue the budget session.
