KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 12

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Cochair Pushpa Kamal Dahal today met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and urged him to direct party lawmakers in Karnali Province to withdraw the no-trust motion that they filed yesterday against Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi.

Shahi is close to Dahal, while 15 out of 18 lawmakers who registered the no-trust motion yesterday were formerly associated with CPN-UML led by Oli before unification of the party with the Dahal-led CPN-Maoist Centre.

Dahal told the PM that the 18 lawmakers’ move was against the spirit of party unity. A source close to Dahal alleged that lawmakers who moved the no-trust motion against Shahi were saying that they registered the motion at the behest of Oli.

NCP Standing Committee member Haribol Gajurel said there had been a rift in the ruling party in Karnali Province and registration of the no-trust motion against the CM was a consequence of the same. He, however, said party lawmakers’ move would benefit the opposition party who would try to seize upon the intra-party rift in the ruling party.

He said the last Standing Committee meeting had decided to reshuffle the federal and provincial governments, but that should have been done on the basis of consensus within the party.

“Everybody wants position in the government. There are some who have the ambition of becoming the CM of Karnali Province,” Gajurel said.

Meanwhile, Shahi today sacked NCP Chief Whip Gulab Jung Shah from the post. Sources claim that Shah was sacked as NCP chief whip for supporting lawmakers who had moved the no-trust motion against him. Shahi, however, said he decided to sack Shah as his performance was not up to the mark.

Shahi appointed Whip Sita Kumari Nepali as the party’s Chief Whip in Karnali Provincial Assembly.

Gulab Jung Shah told THT that Shahi had already lost legal and moral ground to sack him, as a notrust motion had already been registered against him and he had already called a meeting of the party’s parliamentary party tomorrow.

“We are going to formally remove Shahi from the post of parliamentary party leader tomorrow,” he added.

A version of this article appears in print on October 13, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.