Surkhet, February 15

CPN-MC leader Mahendra Bahadur Shahi was appointed chief minister of Province 6 today.

Shahi was elected as a Provincial Assembly lawmaker from Kalikot.

Provincial governor Durga Keshar Khanal appointed him to the post upon receiving the CPN-UML parliamentary party’s letter supporting Shahi’s claim to the post.

The appointment of chief minister here had taken time after the UML claimed the post in breach of an erstwhile agreement to offer the CM’s post in the province to the CPN-MC, citing the election of 50 per cent of provincial lawmakers from the party.

The dispute was finally resolved today after the UML got its lawmakers to sign a decision supporting Shahi following a day-long discussion between the UML parliamentary party leader Yamlal Kandel and Shahi.

Having participated in the parliamentary and  provincial elections by forging electoral alliance with the CPN-MC,  UML alone boasts 20 lawmakers in the 40-member Provincial Assembly here,  while the representation of CPN-MC in the PA stand at 13.

Commenting on the party’s decision to support Shahi as CM, Kandel said, “We have decided to go ahead by honouring the past agreement between our parties in view of the unification of the parties in the near future.”

Born in Kalikot’s Nanikot in 1977, the newly-appointed CM is a former division commander of Maoist combatants. He had first been elected to the Constituent Assembly back in 2007.

He also became a minister in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government. He is slated to be sworn in at 3:00pm tomorrow.