KATHMANDU, JULY 20

The Upendra Yadav-Baburam Bhattarai faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal today endorsed the parliamentary party statute, paving the way for the election of its parliamentary party leader.

Bhattarai tweeted that 20 lawmakers of the party representing it in the House of Representatives and two lawmakers representing the party in the National Assembly endorsed the Parliamentary Party statute and decided to send it to the Executive Committee for the latter's approval.

The Yadav-Bhattarai faction had fallen into minority a few weeks ago when it had only 12 lawmakers in its camp who supported Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba's bid for prime ministership under Article 76 (5) of the constitution.

JSP-N Co-chair Yadav said the party would elect its parliamentary party leader within a week.

He said his party would join the Sher Bahadur Deuba government, but was in no rush to be its coalition partner. 'We are yet to elect our parliamentary party leader. The Election Commission has also not decided on the authenticity dispute,' Yadav said when asked if they would join the government within the next five days. Both the Yadav-Bhattarai and the Mahantha Thakur-Rajendra Mahato factions of the party claim to be the authentic party and the EC has formed a bench to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, the Thakur-Mahato faction today held its Executive Committee meeting and demanded that Deuba, who had assured the JSP-N of addressing its political demands, meet those demands. Leaders of the faction said they voted in favour of Deuba during the floor test after he promised to address the JSP-N's demands related to the constitutional amendment, withdrawal of false cases filed against JSP-N cadres and leaders, constitutional recognition for artisans and Khas people, and release of JSP-N lawmaker Resham Chaudhary from jail. The party drew the attention of the government to all these demands.

The faction urged the government to bring an economic relief package for the poor people who were badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Thakur-Mahato faction also urged the government to provide relief to households who were hit by recent flooding and landslides.

The Thakur-Mahato faction had supported former prime minister KP Sharma Oli's bid for prime ministership under Article 76 (5).

A version of this article appears in the print on July 21 2021, of The Himalayan Times.