Kathmandu, January 11
Ruling coalition partner CPN Maoist Centre has decided to pull out from the government to make way for the new Cabinet.
Although ministers from the party had been stripped of their portfolios by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba before the elections, they had continued to enjoy state benefits as ‘ministers without portfolio.’ Deuba resorted to the action to punish the Maoist party after it decided to enter into an electoral alliance with the main opposition party, the CPN UML.
Maoist leader Giriraj Mani Pokharel informed that the party had decided to leave the government. “We have, however, not decided whether the ministers should resign en masse or the party should recall them,” he added.
