SURKHET, Aug 15: Eighteen days after taking charge as Chief Minister of Karnali Province, Mangal Bahadur Shahi is still running the government without a Cabinet as the ruling coalition remains deadlocked over the distribution of ministries.
Shahi, parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Communist Party (NCP), was appointed Chief Minister with the support of the CPN-UML. However, the two coalition partners have yet to agree on how the six ministries will be divided or who will lead them, leaving Shahi to run the provincial government on his own.
The prolonged deadlock has also complicated the timing of Shahi’s vote of confidence. The Chief Minister says both the government formation process and the vote of confidence will be completed by the third week of August.
“We will form the government and take a vote of confidence by the third week of August,” he said. “The two parties are currently holding discussions on the matter.”
The coalition partners are also discussing whether Shahi should first expand his Cabinet and then seek a vote of confidence, or secure the confidence vote before completing the Cabinet, he said.
President Paudel expresses concern over parliament deadlock
Karnali has six ministries besides the Chief Minister’s Office: Economic Affairs and Planning; Social Development; Water Resources and Energy Development; Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives; Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development; and Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment.
NCP Chief Whip Krishna Bahadur GC said the two parties had yet to settle the distribution of the ministries. The UML has been demanding four of the six ministries, while the NCP has maintained that the ministries should be divided equally, with three ministries going to each party.
“The central leadership has stated that the distribution of ministries in provincial governments should be based on the number of seats held by each party in the provincial assembly, the number of ministries and which party leads the government,” he said. “We are in favor of distributing the ministries accordingly.”
The central directive also calls for the share of the party holding the posts of Chief Minister and Speaker to be considered as part of the overall balance of power.
The 40-member Karnali Provincial Assembly has 14 lawmakers from the NCP, which leads the government, and 10 from the UML. Nanda Gurung of the UML is the Speaker of the provincial assembly.
The parties have also agreed at the central level on the order in which ministries will be allocated. Under the agreement, the party holding the Chief Minister’s post in Karnali will have the first choice of ministry. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning comes immediately after the Chief Minister’s Office, after which the Chief Minister’s party will be entitled to choose the second ministry.
A directive issued by UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and NCP Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal has outlined the sequence for allocating the ministries.
In Karnali, however, the UML has insisted that the power-sharing agreement reached when Shahi was appointed Chief Minister be implemented.
“The agreement was that the NCP, which leads the government, would get the Chief Minister’s post and two other ministries, while the remaining four ministries would go to the coalition partner UML,” said a UML lawmaker. “The ministries should be allocated accordingly.”
The lawmaker claimed that before the NCP went to the provincial head to stake its claim to form the government, the two parties had agreed that the NCP would take the Chief Minister’s post and two other ministries, while the UML would get four ministries.
“The party leading the government is now engaged in bargaining,” he said. “This is not good.”
-1788334701.webp)
