UML, MC, Janamat and LSP-N have decided to form new government soon
KATHMANDU, MAY 12
Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal split resulted in the fall and formation of a new government in Madhes Province, costing its chair, Upendra Yadav, dearly.
He lost the province government today. Furthermore, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Daha has asked him to step down from his federal portfolios as health minister and deputy prime minister.
According to a high official source, the Prime Minister today asked Upendra Yadav to resign from his portfolios after the CPN-MC withdrew support from the Madhes province government. PM Dahal's secretariat requested that Upendra Yadav resign from his positions as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health.
In a dramatic change in political equation at the centre, while JSP-N president Upendra Yadav had gone to the USA to attend the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development, his colleague Ashok Rai rebelled with seven legislators and 31 central committee members and formed a new party, the Janata Samajwadi Party, removing the word Nepal contained in the previous party while registering at the election commission. Since then, political chaos has increased in Madhes. Today, finally, CPN-UML and CPN-MC both withdrew from JSP-N led government in Madhes.
After both parties withdrew their support for the government, eight ministers of the UML and two of the Maoist Centre resigned en masse on Sunday.
CPN-UML, issuing a press statement today, announced that it had decided to withdraw its support for the government led by Saroj Kumar Yadav, Madhes Province Chief Minister and JSP-N provincial parliamentary party leader.
Soon after, Physical Infrastructure and Development Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav (Mahottari), Home, Communications, and Law Minister Rajkumar Lekhi, Health and Population Minister Satrudhan Singh, Education and Culture Minister Pramod Kumar Jaiswal, Health and Population Minister Keshav Rai, and State Home, Communications, and Law Minister Sharda Thapa all resigned.
Similarly, Bharat Prasad Shah, the leader of the CPN-MC Madhes Province Parliamentary Party, announced that his party has withdrawn its support for the government. Following the Maoist Madhes Province meeting, the CPN-MC withdrew its support to the government, and Bharat Prasad Shah and Yuvraj Bhattarai resigned as ministers.
Following a parliamentary party meeting on Sunday between the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC, the ruling alliance at the centre decided to withdraw its support for the government under Article 168 of Nepal's Constitution.
Prior to this, the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party-Nepal had withdrawn from the Madhes government on May 7. Chief Minister Saroj Kumarr Yadav, however, managed to secure the trust vote then.
In 107-member PA, 54-members are required to form the government. However, Saroj Kumar Yadav, who passed the floor test on May 7 with 61 votes, has fallen into a minority with the major parties withdrawing support.
The CPN-UML is the largest party in the Madhes PA, with 23 lawmakers, followed by the Nepali Congress, which has 22 legislators, and the JSP-N and Janamat Party, which have 18 and 13 Peovincial Assembly members, respectively. The CPN (US), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party-Nepal (LSP-N), and CPN-MC each have nine members, one from the Nagarik Unmukti Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi Party, and one independent.
Meanwhile, the CPN-UML, CPN-MC, Janamat Party, and LSP-N have reached an agreement to form a new government in Madhes.
Chandan Singh, a Janamat Party central committee member and Madhes Provincial Lawmaker, told THT, "we four parties met and agreed to form a new government. However, we are yet to decide who will lead the government, but this will be determined soon, and a claim to a new government will be staked."
Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, which had 12 legislators in the Lower House, has been limited to five now as seven lawmakers separated their ways and formed a new party-Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP). Yadav is left with five lawmakers on the brink of JSP-N party convention, which is set to be held on June 10.
