Bagmati Province Government: 6 UML Ministers Resign

Hetauda. Six ministers from the CPN-UML have resigned collectively from the Bagmati Province government. The UML, which had been postponing its resignation multiple times, submitted its resignation letters to the Chief Minister's office on Wednesday. The resignation letters of the UML ministers were registered at the Chief Minister's secretariat and submitted to Chief Secretary Baburam Adhikari after Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniyan did not grant them an audience. Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forest and Environment, Madhusudan Poudel, registered the resignation letter at Chief Minister Baniyan's secretariat. The collective resignation of the six UML ministers participating in the provincial government was registered by Minister Poudel at the secretariat and submitted to Chief Secretary Adhikari.

They attempted to submit their resignations to Chief Minister Baniyan in person, but as he did not meet them, they submitted their resignation letters to the Chief Minister's office and returned. Baniyan, meanwhile, had gone to Chitwan to attend a BP Smriti Diwas program on Wednesday. As it would take time for him to return, the UML ministers registered their resignations at the secretariat. The UML ministers who resigned include Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forest and Environment Madhusudan Poudel, Minister of Physical Infrastructure Development Dr. Dinesh Chandra Devkota, Minister of Industry, Tourism, Labor and Transport Bindu Shrestha, and Ministers without portfolio Kiran Thapa Magar, Bharat Bahadur KC, and Jayaram Thapa. They were all part of the current government formed on August 5, 2082, in accordance with Article 168 (9) of the Constitution, from the UML side.

Before registering their resignations, the UML ministers submitted a letter to the Province Chief withdrawing their support for the government. The UML ministers withdrew their support for the government by submitting a letter to Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota. With the UML ministers leaving the government, a new political equation has opened up in the Bagmati Province.

The resignation of the UML ministers on Wednesday came out from the parliamentary party secretariat even before it was formalized. The letter, which came out from the parliamentary party secretariat early Wednesday morning, was registered at Chief Minister Baniyan's secretariat only at 1:30 PM. In fact, the resignation of the UML ministers had been repeatedly scheduled and postponed.

The UML ministers, who were preparing to resign on Asar 32, were stopped citing central directives, and immediately after that, they returned to Kathmandu. Before that, UML Parliamentary Party Leader Jagannath Thapaliya was in Kathmandu, actively engaged in the game of forming the government and becoming the Chief Minister.

The resignation of the UML ministers was also postponed on Saturday, Shrawan 2. Party leader Thapaliya had instructed them to resign immediately. Accordingly, the ministers had also prepared to submit their resignations to Chief Minister Baniyan on Saturday, but it was postponed again at the last moment. The UML ministers put their resignations on hold to proceed according to the decision of the parliamentary party meeting on Asar 3, Sunday.

The UML's parliamentary party meeting held in Koteshwor, Kathmandu, decided not to withdraw from the government immediately. However, on Tuesday afternoon, the UML ministers were suddenly preparing to resign again. The preparation to submit the resignation to Chief Minister Baniyan at the Provincial Governance Center in Lalitpur was again postponed, and the plan was to submit it in Hetauda on Wednesday morning. Finally, as Chief Minister Baniyan did not grant them an audience, the resignation was registered at the secretariat.

The repeated postponements of the resignation for five days, Chief Minister Baniyan's refusal to meet, and the ministers registering their resignations at the secretariat are not mere coincidences. The main reason for this is the internal conflict within the UML. According to UML sources, most of the six ministers were in favor of continuing within the current coalition. That is why the ministers had been delaying submitting their resignations repeatedly.

One UML minister claimed that the resignation letter was leaked from the parliamentary party secretariat while discussions about the resignation were ongoing on Wednesday. According to him, the UML party leader leaked the resignation letter out of fear of not becoming the Chief Minister.

This minister stated that UML Party Leader Thapaliya has been promoting himself as the next Chief Minister. He explained that according to the procedure, the letter of withdrawal of support should be submitted to the Province Chief's office only after submitting the resignation letter to the Chief Minister. However, contrary to this procedure, the party leader pressured the ministers to submit the letter of withdrawal of support even before submitting the resignation to the Chief Minister.

On Wednesday, while informing about the resignation through a press conference, Party Leader Thapaliya instructed the UML ministers over the phone to withdraw their support.

A member of the Chief Minister's secretariat stated that the Chief Minister did not come to receive the resignation because the withdrawal of support was done prematurely, bypassing the procedure, at a time when Chief Minister Baniyan was preparing to receive the resignation by meeting them at 2 PM. He added that as the meeting was scheduled for 2 PM, the withdrawal of support letter was submitted at 12 PM in haste, and the Chief Minister was in Chitwan.

Regarding the matter, UML Minister Madhusudan Poudel stated that there is no internal conflict or problem of any kind within the party. Refuting the claim of two factions within the party while ministers were preparing to resign, he clarified that they were resigning according to the party's directives and collective decision.

Minister Poudel stated that they had prepared the resignation by signing it formally, but he was unaware of how it was leaked before being formally submitted. He explained that the resignation planned for Asar 32 was postponed because it is natural to take some time to reach a conclusion on any matter and to consult with the party center.

He said that the UML had come after discussions with the party leadership and parliamentary party leaders in Kathmandu, and all ministers were in agreement. He added that they wanted to submit their resignations in person after cooperating cordially with the Chief Minister for a year, which is why they waited for some time. Minister Poudel stated that there is no misunderstanding within the UML and the current situation has arisen solely due to changes in the political equation.

According to him, the UML will have a clear claim regarding the leadership of the new government and its formation. He stated that the possibility of the UML leading the new government is 50/50, and the party has a strong claim to it. He added that to gather the necessary majority for forming the government according to the new equation, the UML is also expecting cooperation from parties like the RPP and other parties. He said that they will move forward by seeking cooperation from the RPP and all other parties that support their collaboration.

He stated that the leadership of the government from the UML will be decided based on mutual agreement and conclusion among the coalition parties.

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