UML’s Kiran Thapa Magar sworn in as Bagmati Chief Minister

KATHMANDU: Newly appointed Bagmati Province Chief Minister Kiran Thapa Magar has taken the oath of office and secrecy.

Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota administered the oath to Thapa amid a ceremony in Hetauda on Thursday.

Thapa, a CPN-UML provincial assembly member, was appointed chief minister as per Article 168(2) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015.

Province Chief Devkota appointed Thapa as the Chief Minister with the support of 63 provincial lawmakers from the UML, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), among others.

Although RPP had instructed its lawmakers not to be involved in forming and failing governments in provinces, the party’s parliamentary leader in Bagmati, Uddhav Thapa, had defied the party’s instructions by supporting Thapa Magar’s bid to become Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, RPP has expelled Thapa from the party for defying party instructions. The party has also decided to write to the Bagmati Province Assembly Secretariat that Thapa be stripped of his provincial assembly seat.