Congress Ministers Resign in Karnali
Surkhet. Ministers from the Nepali Congress participating in the government in Karnali resigned on Wednesday morning. Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning Rajiv Vikram Shah, Minister of Social Development Ghanshyam Bhandari, Minister of Water Resources and Energy Bijaya Budha, and Minister of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Suresh Adhikari jointly resigned.
They became ministers in July 2081 BS. According to sources available to Ratopati, Shah, who was the Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, is currently in Bangkok. He had resigned to Congress Parliamentary Party leader Jeevan Bahadur Shahi before leaving for treatment from Surkhet.
According to leaders, the resignation of Congress ministers was not sudden. 'Their resignation has come in accordance with previous commitments,' a MP told Ratopati. 'They were told to resign before the budget was presented. But they said they would present the budget and then resign.'
The MP stated that the resignation of Congress ministers came in accordance with previous commitments. Within the party, there was a discussion that ministers from the Congress should be removed and new ones sent before the budget for the fiscal year 2083/084 was presented.
'They could not perform well, and questions arose everywhere,' says an MP. 'Also, it was said that they would only be ministers for a year and a half when they were ministers before.' Accordingly, they were told to resign in Jestha, but the resignation came on Wednesday in accordance with the commitment to resign after presenting the budget, the MP said.
However, it appears uncertain how the government will proceed with the resignation of Congress ministers. Even though the ministers have resigned, the Congress has maintained its support for the government.
Suresh Adhikari, who resigned as Minister of Tourism, told Ratopati that he resigned to form a government under the leadership of the Congress. When asked why only the ministers resigned, he said, 'It is to form a government under our leadership. In accordance with the previous rotational principle, it is time for the Congress party leader to become Chief Minister.'
However, if the rotational principle of the past was followed, and Congress Parliamentary Party leader Jeevan Bahadur Shahi took the lead, the ministers would not have resigned. 'If Chief Minister and CPN-UML Parliamentary Party leader Yamlal Kandel transfers power, the cabinet would be dissolved on its own,' says a ruling party MP.
The resignation of only ministers has started discussions in two ways. According to the MP, the first is the continuation of Kandel's leadership with the support of the Congress. The second is a change in the power equation. According to the second discussion, either a power equation between Congress-CPN or between UML-CPN will occur.
20 seats are required to form a government in the province. In the province, Congress has 15 seats, UML has 10 seats, and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has 14 seats.
However, CPN leaders say that is not possible at the moment. According to a responsible leader of the Congress, nothing will happen in the province solely by the will of party leader Shahi. 'The developed situation will be discussed at the party center,' he said. 'What comes from above.'
The Provincial Parliamentary Party is largely dominated by Jeevan Bahadur Shahi's faction. But there is a big dispute in the Congress party center. Shahi belongs to the Deuba-Purna Bahadur Khadka faction. But after the special general convention, Gagan Kumar Thapa is leading the party.
'If Jeevan Dai had taken the leadership of the government, the party's provincial committee had decided in February to take the leadership of the government,' says the Congress MP. 'For some reason, he did not agree to take it.'
The leader also said that the leadership of the government will be discussed at the party center even now. Binod Kumar Shah, government spokesperson and Minister of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives from UML, said that there has been no significant discussion about changing the government.
Rather, before the budget was presented, there was a discussion within the UML about changing ministers as well. Yamlal Kandel became Chief Minister with the support of the then Maoist on March 27, 2080 BS. But immediately after the Congress-UML alliance was formed at the center, Congress joined the government in July 2081 BS with 4 ministries.
This specific news has been automatically translated by AI. As a result, there may be some inaccuracies or language errors.
