Forty lawmakers of Lumbini have met Governor Dharmanath Prasad Yadav on Sunday and submitted written application to stop swearing in of Shankar Pokharel as chief minister (CM) pointing that he is trying to form a majority government after resigning earlier on the day to avoid no-confidence motion.
Lawmakers of Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) have met governor in the afternoon and requested to stop formation of a majority government led by Pokharel pointing that they have 40 lawmakers in the assembly.
There are 87 seats in the provincial assembly of Lumbini. CPN-UML claims it has 41 lawmakers that is enough for majority in the assembly that is only 81-strong now after Maoist Center expelled two lawmakers who joined UML and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) expelled four lawmakers who joined the Pokharel Cabinet after the no-confidence motion was registered on April 19.
But Maoist Center lawmaker Dana Sharma claimed that Bimala Oli, who was elected on ticket of the then CPN formed after unification of CPN-UML and Maoist Center, has opted to join Maoist Center. "She had the option to choose a party (after the SC invalidated unification of UML and Maoist Center) and has accordingly chosen Maoist Center. We are happy with this," Sharma told Setopati.
If Oli joins Maoist Center, UML will have only 40 lawmakers which is not sufficient to form majority government.
NC Chief Whip Fakharuddin Ansari told Setopati that the opposition lawmakers met Governor Yadav and requested him to initiate the process for formation of new government only after holding discussion with all the parties pointing that Pokharel does not have the necessary numbers to form a majority government.
"We have now returned after meeting governor. We will go to submit claims shortly," Ansari added.
