KATHMANDU, April 3: Ranjita Shrestha, the chairperson of the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP), has instructed the provincial assembly members elected from the party not to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister (CM) Kamal Bahadur Shah of Sudurpaschim Province.

This action stems from internal party disagreements after the Resham Chaudhary faction of the NUP nominated a provincial assembly member of the party to join the government led by CM Shah. Soon after, NUP Chairperson Shrestha instructed the leader of the parliamentary party of NUP, Ghanshyam Chaudhary, to withdraw from the government immediately.

By issuing a notice to all the seven provincial assembly members elected from the party, she instructed them not to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister Shah.

Chief Minister Shah is taking the vote of confidence on Wednesday. Currently, five provincial assembly members from the NUP are part of the Shah-led government.

Shrestha has claimed that since there is no statute of the parliamentary party, the central chairperson has the right to whip the important decisions of the party.

Shrestha has written a letter to the Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly, mentioning that Province Assembly member Indira Giri, who was elected through the proportional elections, has been removed from the post. Shrestha has clarified that Giri was removed after she did not respond to a clarification sought by the party as to why she had joined the government against the party’s decision.

However, despite these instructions, five out of the seven NUP leaders, all of whom are directly elected remain in the provincial government. Giri who is serving as the Minister of State for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives and Tika Thapa were the only members elected through the proportional representation system out of NUP’s seven provincial assembly members.

 
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