KATHMANDU, JULY 31
Amid an intra-party purge due to factionalism in the Nepali Congress, Indra Bahadur Baniya has been elected as the leader of the Nepali Congress Bagmati Province parliamentary party. Baniya is also the Bagmati Province president of the party.
Baniya defeated incumbent Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama (Tamang) in a party election held today at the Provincial Assembly Secretariat.
Out of the 37 NC Bagmati provincial legislators, Baniya received 22 votes, while Lama received only 14. One vote was void. Yesterday, he lost his position as party leader after only 15 votes were cast against the no-confidence motion filed against him by the parliamentary party. The no-confidence motion garnered 22 votes.
After Lama lost his position as party leader, an election was held today to select the party leader. On July 25, 21 legislators, led by Baniya, filed a no-confidence motion at the party office. Four ministers from the Lama-led government had resigned and supported Baniya.
Baniya and Lama ran for the leadership of the parliamentary party for the second time. Baniya, who lost the parliamentary party election for the first time on December 28, 2022, during his second term in the provincial assembly, reversed the decision within two-and-a-half years.
Following the provincial assembly election on November 20, 2022, Baniya was defeated by Lama by five votes in the December 28, 2022 election for the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in both the Bagmati provincial assembly and the federal parliament. Baniya had received only 16 votes, while Lama had secured 21.
Meanwhile, Baniya, who was elected leader of the Nepali Congress' Bagmati Province parliamentary party, told mediapersons that if CM Lama refused to step down, he would be sacked through the process.
"He became the CM following a two-party (Nepali Congress and CPN-UML) alliance as the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party," Baniya said after Lama refused to resign despite losing the election. "He has lost his position as party leader. It is as per the party's statute. It is his misfortune if he does not follow ethics, political honesty and his party's principles."
He stated that if the chief minister does not resign, he will be dismissed in accordance with democratic procedures.
Baniya referred to intra-party and external conflicts as a beautiful aspect of democracy. He noted that if democratic party leaders did not carry out their duties properly, their party would lose ground in the party system, or the party leadership would change often.
He stated that there was an internal competition within the Nepali Congress to strengthen the belief in republicanism and federalism, adding, "No one wins or loses here. Earlier, the responsibility belonged to a Nepali Congress leader. Now, it belongs to another. This is a democratic practice."
