With more than two leaders staking claims for each chief ministerial post, the UML, which will form government in four of the seven provinces, has yet to name party's chief ministerial picks for Province 1, 3, 4.
KATHMANDU, Jan 30: The CPN-UML is planning to go to elections to select the parliamentary party leaders for three provinces, who would be party's natural heir to the chief ministerial portfolio, f the current efforts to pick candidates through consensus fail to make headway.
UML to pick chief ministers by vote
With more than two leaders staking claims for each chief ministerial post, the UML, which will form government in four of the seven provinces, has yet to name party's chief ministerial picks for Province 1, 3, 4.
UML leaders said the party would first seek to pick the chief ministers through consensus. A meeting of the UML standing committee slated for Tuesday, will dwell on the agenda of chief ministers and government formation in four provinces, according to UML leader Krishna Gopal Shrestha.
In the six provinces where the left alliance will form governments, Maoist Center will have chief ministers in Province 6 and 7, while chief ministers for Province 1, 3, 4, and 5 will be from the UML. UML secretary Shanker Pokharel has been selected as party's chief ministerial candidate for Province 5.
Picking a unanimous candidate for the remaining provinces will not be easy for the UML given the background of the candidates eying the chief ministerial berths. Over a dozen leaders are in the race to become chief ministers in three provinces. Former ministers Sherdhan Rai and Bhim Acharya are seen as favorites for chief minister of Province 1. Rai is close to Oli, while Acharya is close to UML senior leader and former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Among five leaders in the chief ministerial fray, Asta Laxmi Shakya and Rajendra Pandey are two strongest contenders for Province 3. Both Shakya and Pandey have cordial relationship with both the establishment and opposition camp in the party.
UML Secretary Prithvi Subba Gurung, a leader close to UML Chairman Oli, and influential leader Kiran Gurung, a confidant of party Vice Chairman Bamdev Gautam, have been seen as possible CM picks for Province 4.
Unlike the UML, Maoist Center is working to select candidates through consensus. There are two leaders each in the races to become party's chief minister in Province 6 and Province 7. Maoist leader and former energy minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi and Naresh Bhandari have been seen as two possible CM picks in Province 6, while Birman Chaudhary and Jhapat Bohara have been seen as possible chief ministerial candidates for Province 7.
