The ruling coalition has decided to submit signatures of 47 lawmakers including the provincial assembly speaker to stake claim for government formation in Koshi province.
A meeting of seven parties of the ruling coalition held at the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar on Thursday morning decided to present their claim, along with the speaker, to make Uddhav Thapa of Nepali Congress the chief minister of Koshi.
Koshi’s province chief Parshuram Khapung has given parties until Thursday to form a new government.
The ruling coalition has instructed NC parliamentary party leader Thapa, CPN (Maoist Center) parliamentary party leader Indra Angbo and CPN (Unified Socialist) parliamentary party leader Rajendra Rai to submit signatures of 47 lawmakers for government formation.
“There was some confusion regarding the Koshi province government formation. There were also some disagreements. We have decided to give instruction to submit signatures of 47 lawmakers now,” Unified Socialist Vice-chairman Rajendra Pandey told Setopati after the meeting. “As the speaker is also a lawmaker, it has been decided to submit his signature, too.”
The ruling coalition has also decided to introduce a bill on loan sharking. The bill to replace the ordinance on loan sharking became inactive after it could not be tabled in parliament on Wednesday.
“The ordinance could not be tabled due to obstruction by the main opposition CPN-UML and other opposition parties. The ordinance has become inactive as 60 days have passed, which would make the loan sharks happy. We have discussed bringing a bill to formulate law through regular process now. We decided to bring the bill by immediately resolving differences, if any, among the ruling coalition parties, too.”
The ruling coalition meeting has concluded that obstructing House proceedings demanding Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s resignation without giving him any opportunity to answer is against parliamentary norms and values.
According to Pandey, the ruling coalition has concluded that the prime minister should not resign but face the House over the issue.
Speaking at a book launch event on Monday, Dahal had said that Sardar Pritam Singh had repeatedly visited Delhi to make him prime minister.
UML had obstructed both House meetings on Wednesday demanding Dahal’s resignation over his remarks. Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Swatantra Party had also joined UML’s protest in the House of Representatives.
NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Janata Samajwadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav, Unified Socialist Vice-chairman Rajendra Pandey, Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut, Nagarik Unmukti Party Chair Ranjita Chaudhary, NC Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Maoist Center General Secretary Dev Gurung and Chief Whip Hit Raj Pandey were also present in Thursday’s meeting.
