The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) is set to support two different factions in the internal dispute of ruling CPN in Province 1 and Bagmati.
The faction of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal has registered no-confidence motion against Chief Minister (CM) of Province 1 Sher Dhan Rai proposing Bhim Acharya as the new CM on Sunday while it had registered one against Bagmati CM Dormani Paudel proposing Ashta Laxmi Shakya as the new CM Friday itself.
NC parliamentary party leader in Bagmati Indra Bahadur Baniya has already convened parliamentary party meeting after the no-confidence motion against CM Paudel while NC parliamentary party leader in Province 1 Rajeev Koirala is also holding internal discussions.
NC does not have provincial structures and the decision will have to be taken at the center. But top leaders all concur that the party should not support a single faction in all the provinces and back different factions depending on situation at each province.
"The party is preparing to back the faction of KP Sharma Oli in Province 1," a top NC leader told Setopati. "It is looking to back the Dahal-Nepal faction in a way that it will be against CM Dor Mani Paudel in Bagmati."
The leader added that the central committee meeting will formally decide which faction to back in each province.
NC will have a decisive role in both the provinces. NC has 21 seats in 93-strong provincial assembly in Province 1 and 22 seats in 110-strong Bagmati provincial assembly where ruling CPN has 67 and 80 seats respectively.
The Oli faction has clear support of just 22 and 34 provincial lawmakers in Province 1 and Bagmati respectively.
