KATHMANDU, April 30: The chief minister (CM) of Sudurpaschim Province, Dirgha Bahadur Sodari, is scheduled to take a vote of confidence in the provincial assembly on Friday.

A joint meeting of the parties in the ruling coalition held at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers on Tuesday morning decided that Chief Minister Sodari will seek a vote of confidence on May 3.

Man Bahadur Dhami, the leader of the Maoist Center Provincial Parliamentary Party, who participated in the meeting, said that there was an agreement that Chief Minister Sodari would take a vote of confidence in the provincial assembly on May 3. According to him, there has been an agreement to allocate one more ministry for the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP). 

According to the agreement, the NUP will get the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives. Dhami said that there was an agreement to appoint Tika Thapa, a member of the NUP Provincial Assembly, as a minister and administer him the oath of office and secrecy on Tuesday.

Sodari was appointed as the chief minister on April 18 with the support of the CPN-UML, Maoist Center, NUP, and an independent provincial assembly member along with the CPN (Unified Socialist). CM Sodari, who appointed Kailash Chaudhary from the NUP as the Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development, has retained the control of other ministries for himself so far.