The ruling coalition has decided to give chief minister (CM) of Far West to CPN (Unified Socialist).
Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal demanded CM of at least one province during the meeting of top leaders of the five parties in the ruling coalition on Sunday.
The meeting of CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepal held in Baluwatar on Monday has decided to give CM of Far West to the party formed after splitting from UML, according to a Baluwatar source.
They also agreed for different coalition parties taking turns as Bagmati CM.
Bagmati CM Shalik Ram Jammakattel, who has called floor test for Monday, is likely to pass the floor test after the latest deal. Unified Socialist parliamentary party leader Krishna Khanal will succeed Jammakattel as Bagmati CM as per the deal, according to a Unified Socialist source.
Unified Socialist has four provincial lawmakers in Koshi, seven in Bagmati, one (Deepak Manange) in Gandaki, one each in Karnali and Lumbini, and four in Far West.
Oli and Dahal had earlier finalized sharing of provincial governments with UML getting to lead in Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali, Maoist Center in Bagmati and Lumbini, and Janamat in Madhes.
They had agreed to give CM of Far West to Nagarik Unmukti Party if the party were to agree. But Nepal’s demand on Sunday has forced Dahal and Oli to change tack.
The meeting between Maoist Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Upendra Yadav held at Baluwatar on March 3 agreed to form a new ruling coalition. CPN (Unified Socialist) has also joined the coalition since then.
The previous coalition was formed around a year ago before the election for president after Dahal broke the then coalition with UML. NC, Maoist Center, JSP and Unified Socialist had then decided to revive the pre-election alliance.
Dahal had quit the pre-election alliance with NC and Unified Socialist on December 25, 2022 and became prime minister (PM) with support of CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, RPP, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party after Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba refused to make him PM first.
Oli had assured NC that UML will not ally with Maoist Center at any cost and would instead ally with NC to form the new government to encourage Deuba to break the agreement to make Dahal PM first.
Dahal was constitutionally required to seek floor test again after the largest party in the House, NC, decided to withdraw support from the government.
