Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Mahantha Thakur and Senior Leader Rajendra Mahato have started to collect signatures of executive members and lawmakers on blank papers saying necessary steps have to be taken any time.
JSP is currently divided on whether to support Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli or not. JSP leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav, coming from erstwhile Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, have publicly demanded toppling of Oli government while leaders from the erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) like Thakur and Rajendra Mahato have been negotiating with Oli.
An executive member from the erstwhile RJP said signatures are collected without revealing any reason. "It is wrong of us to do what Yadav and Bhattarai did. No initiative has been taken to save the party," the executive member rued. "It will not be surprising if our signatures are now submitted to support the government. It now seems difficult for the party to remain one."
The Thakur-Mahato faction has also called executive members and lawmakers who are currently outside the Kathmandu Valley to Kathmandu.
PM Oli has opted for floor test on May 10. The Yadav-Bhattarai faction has already taken majority decision to support no-confidence motion to be brought against Oli after the Thakur-Mahato faction refused to support no-confidence motion.
JSP has a total of 34 House of Representatives (HoR) members including two suspended. The Yadav-Bhattarai faction has 17 lawmakers and claims that the number can rise up to 22. The Thakur-Mahato faction is in minority in both the party and parliamentary party.
JSP has submitted a list of 51 executive members--26 from the erstwhile RJP and 25 from Federal Socialist Forum--to the Election Commission after unification of the two parties. Resham Chaudhari coming from RJP is currently in jail.
The Yadav-Bhattarai faction claims 27 executive members are in the faction.
