Lumbini CM Pokharel losing alternatives, will he stay intact in power?

BUTWAL, Aug 9: No matter how desperately Shankar Pokharel, Chief MInister of Lumbini Province has been trying to avert the crisis, his efforts are less likely to yield a result in favor of him. 

Province Chief Amik Sherchan has summoned a special session of the provincial assembly for August 11 as demanded by the opposition alliance. 

The opposition alliance, on the other hand, also registered a no confidence motion against CM Pokharel. The special session is scheduled to decide on the motion. 

Provincial government made an attempt to file a writ petition against the announcement of a special session of the assembly, which, however, turned out to be unsuccessful. 

With two days left for the special session to commence, all eyes are on CM Pokharel, who has already fallen into minority in the provincial assembly,  about his possible steps. 

While analyzing his past records of making desperate efforts to protect his government, very few people think that he would participate honestly in the game of majority and minority. 

Pokharel shocked even the opposition parties as he stepped down from his position on May 2 earlier this year. The special session of the provincial assembly was preparing to decide on a no-confidence motion against him. It was the first no-trust motion. 

However, the erstwhile Governor appointed him as the chief minister as per Article 168 (1) within hours of his resignation. The opposition parties, however, have been claiming that they hold a majority. 

CM Pokharel stayed in the power citing that he had a support of majority of lawmakers. For this, he even counted those who had resigned as the lawmakers and Bimala Oli, who climbed to have joined the CPN (Maoist Center) . 

The provincial assembly could not get any chance to verify whether the Pokharel-led government really held the minority. Nor did he [Pokharel} consider it appropriate to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly as demanded by the opposition.

The crisis escalated to such an extent that Chief Minister Pokharel, who had been claiming to have a majority, not only boycotted a provincial assembly meeting but also introduced the budget through an ordinance.

After the federal government changed the province chief, Chief Minister Pokharel came under pressure. As in the past, it is not easy for Chief Minister Pokharel to speed up the process as per his wish. Feeling uncomfortable with the change of the governor, he tried to challenge the issue of convening a special session of the assembly, but ultimately failed.

He also made several unsuccessful attempts to garner the support of lawmakers from other parties. He had,  however, succeeded in garnering support of four out of six lawmakers of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) in May at a time the provincial assembly was preparing to decide on the no-confidence motion. Of those four, three were suspended and a member returned back to the party. 

As a latest instance, Chief Minister Pokharel also attempted to win over Bimala Khatri Oli,  who had won the by-election from the then Nepal Communist Party (NCP). 

Lawmaker Oli claimed that she was abducted from her home in Dang to Nepalgunj and was kept hostage at the Chief Minister's residence for five days. She also said that she would stay with the CPN (Maoist Center).

But now, Pokharel can not stage such activities. The ruling party --- CPN (UML) needs at least three province assembly members to defend the no-confidence motion. With his party losing stake in the federal government, it will not be easy for Chief Minister Pokharel to win over three lawmakers.

Of the 80 members in the Lumbini Province Assembly, the ruling UML has 38 members, meaning three votes short to win the confidence. The Maoist Center has 18 members, Nepali Congress (NC) 19 and JSP 3. Rastriya Janamorcha has a member in the assembly.