NC stakes claim to form government in Madhesh

KATHMANDU: The Nepali Congress (NC) has staked its claim to form the government in Madhesh Province.

The party’s parliamentary party leader, Krishna Prasad Yadav, submitted the claim to the Office of the Province Chief in Janakpurdham on Wednesday with the support of the CPN-UML and Janamat Party.

Interestingly, Janamat has joined hands with NC and UML to remove Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh, who happens to be its own leader.

NC had already withdrawn its support from the Singh-led government. UML ministers resigned on Wednesday, leaving the government in a minority. Earlier, Singh’s own party, Janamat, had also withdrawn its support and instructed him to resign as Chief Minister. However, Singh had not stepped down at that time.

Even after both NC and UML withdrew their support, Singh has maintained that he will not resign.

While NC staked its claim to form a government in Madhesh, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) Nepal is also making efforts to form a government under its leadership. LSP, which has eight seats in the Madhesh Province Assembly, has been insisting that a Madhesh-centric party should lead the province.

Parties require the support of 54 members to form a government in the 107-member provincial assembly. UML is the largest party in the Madhesh Province Assembly with 25 seats, including the Speaker and one suspended member, while NC has 22 and Janamat has 13 members. Together, these three parties have 57 members—three more than the required majority.