Surendra Raj Pandey becomes Gandaki’s 4th Chief Minister

POKHARA: Surendra Raj Pandey of Nepali Congress (NC) has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Gandaki Province.

Province Chief Prithvi Man Gurung appointed Pandey, who is the parliamentary party leader of NC in the province assembly,  as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. Earlier, Pandey had made a claim for government formation with the 36 assembly members – 27 from NC, eight from CPN (Maoist Center), and one from CPN (Unified Socialist).

One needs the support of 31 assembly members to form government in the 60-member province assembly.

Earlier on Monday, Province Chief Gurung invited political parties to make a claim for government formation as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal by Thursday after Chief Minister Khagaraj Adhikari failed the floor test on Saturday.

NC and Maoist Center have agreed to lead the province government by turns. Maoist Center, which had earlier supported CPN-UML’s Adhikari to form government, withdrew the support and joined hands with NC to form the next government.

Pandey is the fourth Chief Minister of Gandaki Province after Prithvi Subba Gurung, Krishna Chandra Nepali and Khagaraj Adhikari.