Kathmandu, September 11
Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane was aware that Prime Minister Balen Shah was dissatisfied with outgoing Industry Minister Gauri Kumari Yadav, but he was not informed that the Prime Minister was preparing to remove her and appoint Deepak Sah as her replacement.
Yadav had previously become a minister from Lamichhane’s quota. Lamichhane has taken note of the fact that he was not consulted when she was removed and a new minister was appointed on Thursday.
Sources at both the Prime Minister’s Office and the RSP confirmed that Lamichhane was not informed about Sah’s appointment until shortly before the swearing-in ceremony.
An RSP source said Lamichhane had no objection to the prime minister’s authority to appoint or remove ministers, but argued that keeping the party chairperson uninformed about such an important decision was not appropriate.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Lamichhane had previously been informed about concerns over Yadav’s performance and had agreed that she should be removed following recent developments.
The office said Yadav had failed to adequately address the impact of the gas and petroleum crisis caused by the US-Iran war in West Asia, which also affected Nepal.
Sources close to Shah said efforts had been made to improve Yadav’s performance, including administrative changes, but her performance did not improve. They said her recent public remarks further prompted the decision to remove her.
The developments have also exposed growing differences over the balance of power between Lamichhane, the RSP chairperson, and Prime Minister Shah.
RSP leaders said Lamichhane had expected to be consulted on the appointment and was prepared to recommend Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Ganesh Parajuli. However, the ministry that had been allocated to Lamichhane’s quota has ultimately remained with the Shah camp.
