Nepali Congress (NC) has issued a whip instructing its lawmakers to vote against the proposal to make Rapti Valley the capital of Province 5 on Tuesday. The main opposition party is in favor of continuing Butwal as the capital.
The NC provincial parliamentary party has issued the whip presuming that the proposal may be tabled for voting in the provincial assembly Tuesday itself, according to the main opposition leader Birendra Kumar Kanaudiya. "There is no problem with naming the province Lumbini though," he added
NC has 19 members in the provincial assembly and up to six of them are in favor of the proposal to make Dang the capital. NC lawmaker Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary, who was elected from Dang, has told Setopati that he will not honor the whip.
Janata Samajwadi Party has six seats and Rastriya Janamorcha one. They have yet to reveal how they will vote.
The proposal for name and capital of the province needs two-third majority for endorsement. Ruling CPN with 61 seats has the necessary numbers (58) and it has already issued whip to its lawmakers to vote in support of the proposal despite opposition by 14 of their lawmakers.
The main opposition party is against the decision to transfer the provincial capital from Butwal and is demanding the proposal to make Dang the provincial capital be revoked. Its lawmakers vandalized the assembly on Monday after Internal Affairs and Law Minister Kul Prasad KC presented the proposal to the assembly.
