KATHMANDU, April 24: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi, who had been skipping cabinet meetings over protocol row since two weeks, has started attending cabinet meeting from Sunday.
According to his personal aides, Minister Nidhi started participating in the cabinet meeting at the request of his Party President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Expressing dissatisfaction over Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's decision to make Kamal Thapa senior to two other deputy prime ministers, Nidhi had been skipping cabinet meetings. Prime Minister Dahal was even forced to put off the cabinet meeting almost for four weeks due to the protocol row between Thapa and Nidhi.
Nidhi maintained he is the senior DPM since he represents the largest party in parliament. Other senior leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) had supported his views, terming Dahal's decision "a move to humiliate the NC".
Although Nidhi had initially decided to quit his post over the same issue, he chose to stay put after President Deuba requested him not to step down as doing so would have sent a negative message on the eve of local level elections.
Nidhi skips cabinet meeting
