Twelve CPN-UML lawmakers of Bagmati province including a minister have joined CPN (Unified Socialist).
The lawmakers including Social Development Minister Krishna Khanal have reached the Election Commission provincial office in Hetauda and verified that they have joined the new party led by Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The other UML lawmakers to join the new party include Rajendra Pandey, Munu Sigdel, Rama Ale Magar, Laxman Lamsal, Basundhara Humagai, Madhav Paudel, Basanta Manandhar, Parvati Silwal, Kusum Karki, Indra Maya Gurung and Rajendra Man Shrestha, according to lawmaker Laxman Lamsal.
The Ashta Laxmi Shakya government is now in minority after 12 lawmakers from UML joined the new party and she will now have to pass the floor test.
Shakya, who was close to Madhav Kumar Nepal for a long time, became chief minister (CM) on August 18, after changing camp to join the group led by Chairman KP Sharma Oli hours after the Khanal-Nepal faction applied for registration of the new party at the Election Commission.
UML had 56 lawmakers in the 109-strong provincial assembly including speaker and Shakya was appointed CM as leader of the party with majority in the assembly. But the ruling party now has just 44 lawmakers.
CPN (Maoist Center) has 23 seats, Nepali Congress (NC) 22, and Yadav-Bhattarai faction of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) one in the province. The alliance of these three parties and the new party of Nepal can comfortably form a new government.
