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Lumbini: With the new governor, opposition parties restart efforts to topple Pokhrel govt

Lumbini Governor Amit Sherchan listens to an opposition lawmaker’s call for a process to form the new government, in Butwal, on Monday, August 2, 2021.

Butwal, August 2

Opposition parties in the Lumbini Provincial Assembly have submitted an application to the new province chief, Governor Amit Sherchan, requesting he initiate a fresh process to form the new government in the province.

The Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha, in the application submitted on Monday, have claimed Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel has already lost majority support in the assembly. They have also submitted the signatures of 41 lawmakers of the 80-member assembly, stating they can garner the majority support to form the new government.

Earlier on May 2, Pokhrel was reappointed as the chief minister, hours after he resigned from the position, as he had claimed his party, CPN-UML, had the support of 41 lawmakers in the province. However, two lawmakers had resigned from the positions expressing dissatisfaction with Pokhrel whereas one defected to the CPN-Maoist Centre.

It means Pokhrel has the support of only 38 lawmakers currently.

Consequently, the opposition parties had filed a no-confidence motion against him on May 9, but the then governor Dharma Nath Yadav, who was close to the UML, had rejected the call, arguing the motion cannot be filed in the first two years of the appointment.

Apparently, to pave the way for the opposition parties to topple the government, the federal government consisting of the NC, Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party had removed Yadav from the position to be replaced with Sherchan, a former Maoist leader.

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