Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Kedar Karki and Indra Angbo of CPN (Maoist Center) have staked claim for forming Koshi government on Thursday.
Angbo has staked claim for chief minister (CM) as leader of the ruling coalition while Karki submitted signatures of 47 lawmakers including eight NC lawmakers (including himself) and 39 CPN-UML lawmakers. The largest party in the province, UML, has 40 lawmakers its lawmaker Srijana Danuwar is Deputy Speaker. RPP, which has six lawmakers, has also supported Angbo.
NC lawmakers from the Shekhar Koirala camp have rejected the ruling coalition’s decision to support Indra Angbo of CPN (Maoist Center) for CM of the province.
Parties cannot issue whip to lawmakers if a government is formed according to Article 168 (5).
Earlier on Thursday, a meeting of leaders of the ruling coalition held at the prime minister’s residence in Baluwatar decided to support Angbo for chief minister.
Koshi’s Province Chief Parshuram Khapung has given parties until 5 PM Friday to stake claim to the post of chief minister according to Article 168 (5) of the Constitution.
Koshi Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki resigned on Saturday after it became clear that he would fail the floor test.
Karki announced his resignation in the provincial assembly meeting that was scheduled to vote on the floor test on Saturday, 29 days after Province Chief Khapung had appointed him as the chief minister according to Article 168 (3) of the Constitution.
NC has 29 seats the provincial assembly, CPN (Maoist Center) has 13, CPN (Unified Socialist) has four and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) has one seat. UML is the largest party in the 93-strong provincial assembly with 40 seats including the deputy speaker. RPP, which has remained neutral, has six seats.
