KATHMANDU (TIP): With the crucial presidential election in Nepal just nine days away, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda will seek a vote of confidence and reshuffle his Cabinet only after the polls, a media report on March 1 quoted officials as saying.
Prachanda is preparing to reshuffle his Cabinet to fill as many as 16 ministries, which fell vacant after three political parties pulled out of his government, as part of his efforts to keep the newly formed fragile coalition together.
Government spokesperson Rekha Sharma said Prachanda will seek a vote of confidence and reshuffle his Cabinet only after the presidential polls on March 9, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
“The constitutional and legal provision for the prime minister to seek a vote of confidence will be followed within the given timeframe,” Sharma said at the press meeting.
“But we are currently focused on the presidential elections.”
With the Election Commission issuing an election code of conduct with effect from Wednesday until March 19, the Cabinet can only be reshuffled after that.
Nepal’s second largest party in Parliament – CPN-UML – on Monday withdrew its support to the “Prachanda”-led government following a rift over backing the Nepali Congress’ candidate for the presidential poll, plunging the Himalayan nation to another spell of political instability.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has also quit the government. The Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has also withdrawn its ministers from the government.
However, it would keep supporting the government from the outside.
With three major parties pulling out of the government, the seven-party ruling coalition has disintegrated.
Prachanda has now joined hands with the Nepali Congress and six other parties and wants a new power-sharing deal at the earliest. (PTI)
Tag: Pushpa Kamal Dahal
-
Nepal PM Prachanda’s plan to reshuffle Cabinet & seek confidence vote deferred due to presidential elections
-
Nepal’s newly-appointed PM Prachanda wins vote of confidence in House of Representatives
Kathmandu (TIP): Nepal’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on January 10 won the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives. The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time on December 26 last year after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli. Out of the 270 members in the House of Representatives (HoR) present during the voting, 268 voted in favour of Prime Minister Prachanda, while 2 voted against him.
Pashupati Shamsher JB Rana, the senior-most member of the House, who chaired the meeting, said that the HoR passed the vote of confidence proposal moved by Prachanda. Rana, who chaired the meeting did not vote, while four other lawmakers were absent.
Prachanda needed only 138 votes in the 275-member parliament to continue his term as the prime minister. (PTI)
-
Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ takes oath as Nepal’s new Prime Minister
Kathmandu (TIP): Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” was on December 26 sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal for a third time, a day after the former guerrilla leader dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli.
The 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre chairman was appointed as the country’s new prime minister on Sunday after he submitted a letter to President Bidya Devi Bhandari showing the support of 169 members in the 275-member House of Representatives.
Prachanda took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas on Monday. President Bhandari also administered the oath to other Cabinet members of the new coalition government. The new Cabinet has three deputy prime ministers – Bishnu Paudel from Oli’s CPN-UML, Narayan Kaji Shrestha from CPN-Maoist Centre and Rabi Lamichhane from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
Paudel has been assigned Finance ministry, while Shrestha got Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Lamichhane Home Ministry.
Jwala Kumari Sah, Damodar Bhandari and Rajendra Kumar Rai — all three from Oli’s CPN-UML — have been made ministers. Janamat Party’s Abdul Khan was also appointed as a minister.
Despite getting appointed prime minister with an overwhelming majority, Prachanda will now have to win a vote of trust from the lower house within 30 days. (PTI)