CPN-UML has decided to quit the government.
A meeting of the party's secretariat held at Chyasal on Monday decided to quit the government and also withdraw support to the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government, according to UML Vice-chairman Bishnu Paudel.
Paudel said the party took the decision fearing PM Dahal could remove UML ministers from the government or render them without portfolio.
The party had decided to not quit the government immediately on Saturday but suddenly changed the decision on Monday. PM Dahal stopping Geneva visit of Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal from UML hours before she was scheduled to board the plane Sunday seems to have triggered the decision.
“Dahal insultingly stopped visit of minister from our party in the government. We concluded that he can snatch away responsibilities of our ministers or expel them from the Cabinet at any moment,” a UML office-bearer told Setopati. “We have quit the government to ensure that we don’t send message that we remained in the government until Dahal removed us. This was obvious.”
UML had also calculated that there can be cross-voting in the presidential election due to lack of trust in the ruling coalition if it remained in the government. A UML leader told Setopati that PM Dahal wished to expel UML ministers and induct Nepali Congress (NC) in the government to stop that from happening. “Foreign Minister’s visit was not stopped only due to Dahal’s decision. We feel he was also under pressure from NC,” the leader claimed. “Dahal was preparing to take floor test after RPP quit the government. We understood that there would be efforts to expel us before that.”
