Kathmandu, Nepal, October 12, 2021: The newly-formed CPN (Unified Socialist) has been exerting pressure to the ruling allies, particularly the ruling head Nepali Congress, to help elect its leaders to chief minister positions in Province 1 and Bagmati Province fueling bitterness among the ruling allies.
The Nepali Congress (NC), however, wants to share two chief ministers among the two parties. The NC has forwarded the name of Indra Bahadur Baniya as Chief Minister in Bagmati province with the commitment to accept Rajendra Rai of the CPN (Unified Socialist) in province 1.
The CPN (Unified Socialist) has now taken support of the CPN (United Socialist) to secure two chief ministerial posts. Both the communist parties have been pestering now the Nepali Congress claiming that replacing incumbent Chief Ministers from the CPN UML by the leaders of the CPN (United Socialist) would benefit the party.
CPN UML leaders Bhim Acharya and Asta Laxmi Shakya are the Chief Ministers of Province 1 and Bagmati province respectively. Both Acharya and Shakya were with CPN (Unified Socialist) chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal. However, they had decided to remain in the UML after Nepal split the party.
The CPN (Unified Socialist) had been bargaining hard not only for powerful ministries but to secure many ministerial berths before the Cabinet expansion along with the claim for two posts of chief ministers.
It is said that Prime Minister Deuba wants to make Baniya as chief minister of Bagmati province. A meeting of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party held on Sunday had also decided to take initiatives for forming a new government in Bagmati Province under its own leadership.
Likewise, CPN (Unified Socialist) has forwarded the name of Rajendra Pandey in the post of chief minister of Bagmati province.
The ruling allies can easily form government in the provinces. However, the differences in the ruling allies have complicated the process to form the government in these two provinces.
