KATHMANDU, JUNE 12
Nepali Congress' lawmaker of Gandaki Provincial Assembly, Krishna Chandra Nepali has been appointed the chief minister of the province.
Nepali, who had staked claim for the Chief Ministership backed by 31 lawmakers was appointed today by Gandaki Governor Sita Kumari Paudel, in line with Article 168(5) of the Constitution.
Of the 31 lawmakers who had signed in favour of Nepali, 15 were from NC, 11 from CPN- Maoist Center, two from Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal and two from Rashtriya Janamorcha.
Independent lawmaker Rajeev Gurung, who was a minister in outgoing CM Prithvi Subba Gurung's Cabinet, switched sides in the last moment and signed in favour of the opposition alliance.
The opposition lawmakers had earlier gathered outside of the Governor's Office as she failed to appoint Nepali as the CM even after the 24 hour-deadline expired on Saturday afternoon.
The alliance was skeptic about the possibility of a re-run of the events that had transpired at the federal level wherein Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had presented his claim to the government despite the opposition alliance gathering favour of majority of lawmakers signing in favour of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba's appointment as the Prime Minister. The situation had further deteriorated after the President, on recommendation of the government, had dissolved the House of Representatives.
