ITAHARI: Kedar Karki of the Nepali Congress has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Koshi Province.
Province Chief Parshuram Khapung appointed Karki to the post as per Article 168(5) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Khapung appointed Karki to the post after verifying 47 province assembly members who supported his claim to form a government.
Along with Karki, Indra Angbo of CPN (Maoist Center) had also submitted his claim to the government on Tuesday with the support of 47 members of the 93-member province assembly.
The Office of the Province Chief on Thursday issued a press statement requesting all province assembly members to be present at the province chief’s office for verification between 8 am and 2 pm. While all the members who extended their support to Karki reached the office at 8 am for verification, province assembly members who had supported Angbo were not present.
Karki has become the fifth chief minister of the eastern-most province of the country. Although his party, the Nepali Congress, had reached an understanding to form a government under the leadership of the Maoist Center’s Angbo, Karki, who is close to the anti-establishment faction of the party led by Dr. Shekhar Koirala, submitted the claim to form the government with the support of seven other assembly members of NC and 39 assembly members of CPN-UML.
Karki now must get a vote of confidence from the Koshi Province Assembly within 30 days. If Karki fails to pass the floor test, the province chief will dissolve the province assembly and order a fresh election within six months.
NC province assembly members – Ram Kumar Khatri, Himal Karki, and Leela Kumari Rai of Udyayapur, Shamsher Rai and Govinda Giri of Ilam, Indira Thapa of Dhankuta, Man Bahadur Limbu of Morang, and Sunita Gurung of Morang – supported Karki for chief minister.
Karki had lost to Uddhab Thapa in the election of the parliamentary party leader in the province assembly.
