MAKAWANPUR: Chief Minister of Province 3 Dor Mani Paudel has relieved Minister for Physical Planning and Infrastructure of provincial government, Keshav Sthapit, today.

Chief Minister Paudel sacked Sthapit stepping on Article 169 (2), Section B of the Constitution. Sthapit had been reprimanded by the CM during a cabinet meeting for under-performance of the Physical Planning and Infrastructure Ministry following which Sthapit had, reportedly, misbehaved with CM Paudel.

The Province 3 CM had apprised Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of the incident before making the move.

It must be noted that Keshav Sthapit has repeatedly been accused of sexual harassment by a former employee of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office, Rashmila Prajapati. He was freshly alleged of misconduct by a former journalist and slam poet Ujjwala Maharjan.

Meanwhile, Minister Sthapit has said that he is yet to receive any formal notice in this regard. "I heard about the news from the media too but I have not been notified by anyone as of now," said Sthapit.

Sthapit further said that these kind of petty issues are normal in politics and that things escalated due to his 'high-pitched' voice which made a regular discussion look like a messy argument.

Sthapit's impending visit to China is now uncertain following the chain of events.

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