NCP's Dahal-Nepal faction suspends eight assembly members in Province 1

Published On: January 12, 2021 12:58 PM NPT By: Binod Subedi

Provincial Assembly building, Province 1. (File photo: Republica)

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 12: The Dahal-Nepal faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has suspended eight provincial assembly members including Chief Minister Sher Dhan Rai in Province 1 for three months “for going against the party’s interests.”

The provincial assembly lawmakers who have been suspended are: Chief Minister Rai, Hikmat Karki (Interior Affairs and Law Minister), Ram Bahadur Magar (State Minister for Land Management and Cooperatives), Ambir Babu Gurung (State Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development), Buddhikumar Rajbhandari (Chief Whip), Indramani Parajuli, Ambika Thapa and Bimal Karki.

In a tit-for-tat move, the Dahal-Nepal faction took action against the eight provincial assembly members who belong to the Oli-led faction of the party.

The rival faction of the NCP has already informed the Provincial Assembly secretariat in writing about the suspension of the provincial assembly members.

Chief Whip of the Dahal-Nepal faction Bhim Acharya, On Wednesday, asked eight provincial assembly members including CM Rai to furnish clarifications within 24 hours for not attending the party's parliamentary party meeting and going against the party interests.

The eight provincial assembly members have been suspended four days after the faction sought clarification from them.

On December 27, provincial assembly members close to the Dahal-Nepal faction filed a no-confidence motion against CM Dhan Rai. Since then, the two factions of the NCP have taken actions at each other to show their strength in the provincial party politics.

With the rival factions taking actions against each other, speaker of the provincial assembly Pradeep Kumar Bhandari has found himself in a fix ahead of the Provincial Assembly meeting that has been scheduled for January 22. Meanwhile, Speaker Bhandari is holding discussion with lawyers at 3PM today on the evolving political situation in Province 1 ahead of the Provincial Assembly meeting.