Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The ruling coalition has decided to make a claim for government formation in Koshi Province under the leadership of Uddhab Bahadur Thapa of the Nepali Congress (NC).
A meeting of the coalition held on Thursday took a decision to this extent.
Province Chief Parshuram Khapung has given political parties until July 6 to make a claim for government formation.
The ruling coalition has 46 members in the Koshi Province Assembly. The NC has 29 members, the Maoist Center has 13 members, and CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) have four and one member respectively.
The opposition camp also has 46 seats. CPN-UML has 40 seats in the provincial assembly, while RPP has six seats.
Since the coalition is one short of the magic number of 47 required to form the government in Koshi Province, it has decided to include the signature of Speaker Baburam Gautam. Gautam was elected to the provincial assembly from CPN (Maoist Center).
RPP wanted Chief Minister
The ruling coalition made every possible effort to win the support of RPP, which has six seats in the provincial assembly. The coalition would have got a comfortable majority had RPP joined its camp. However, talks couldn’t progress as RPP laid a claim for the post of Chief Minister.
NC leaders held repeated rounds of talks with RPP assembly member Bhakti Sitaula. Sitaula, who was with the NC for a long time, joined RPP only recently. RPP had earlier joined the government under outgoing Chief Minister Hikmat Bahadur Karki.
Meanwhile, RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden has requested NC and UML to form a coalition government in Koshi Province.
UML says it will seek legal remedy
The ruling coalition’s plan to use the Speaker’s signature to make a claim for government formation has raised UML’s hackles.
UML has been maintaining that the Speaker’s support cannot be solicited to make a claim for government formation. The party has been saying that the Speaker can cast a vote only if voting is tied in the provincial assembly.
The party has said that it would knock on the doors of the court if the signature of Speaker Baburam Gautam is used to make a claim for government formation.
The ruling coalition, however, has been saying that since the Speaker is also a provincial assembly member, his signature can be used to make a claim for government formation.
