Barely a month after Gen Z revolution, Nepali Congress and UML back with their tricks – The Himalayan Times – Nepal’s No.1 English Daily Newspaper

KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 16

The Nepali Congress and CPN-UML that bore the brunt of the Gen Z ire, appear to have not learnt any lesson from last month’s movement that toppled their coalition government led by UML Chair KP Sharma Oli.

In a brazen move the two maligned national parties are now directing their attention towards the Madhes province where federal forces formed a new government under Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal lawmaker Jitendra Sonal today.

Hours later Nepali Congress party’s new acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka is learnt to have phoned UML Chair KP Sharma Oli to discuss plans to unseat Sonal-led government.

The two old parties that are synonym of misrule, first attempted to dilute the strength of the current coalition led by Sonal. Yesterday when Sonal went to Province Governor to stake claim, he had support of 57 lawmakers but today when he assumed the responsibility of the Chief Minister, his support decreased to 54.

In the 107-member Madhes Provincial Assembly, 54 is the simple majority and if a single member withdraws support, it could lead to the collapse of the Sonal government.

Now lawmakers who have supported Sonal, will have 21 days to verify their signatures and the new coalition partners fear that in this period the NC and UML would continue to offer sops to their lawmakers to unseat Sonal-led government in Madhes.

Yesterday, 19 lawmakers from Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, 13 lawmakers from Janamat Party, nine lawmakers of CPN-Maoist Centre, eight lawmakers of LSPN, seven lawmakers of CPN (US) and one from Nagarik Unmukti Party had supported Sonal but today when Sonal was appointed the Chief Minister, two Janamat Party lawmakers – Satish Singh and Tribhuvan Sah defected to splinter group-Janaswaraj Party led by Deepak Kumar Sah.

As the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority field a corruption case against JSPN lawmaker Saroj Kumar Singh today, he faced ipso facto suspension in the Madhes Provincial Assembly.

JSP-N Spokesperson Manish Kumar Suman who is also party lawmaker in Madhes provincial Assembly, told THT that they formed a new provincial government without support from the NC and the UML because that was the aspiration of the Gen Z movement but the NC and UML continued to act against the spirit of Gen Z movement. He said the NC and UML were still hand in glove with each other and they wanted to form their government in Madhes province as well. NC and UML are hand in glove with each other and they have their coalition government in all other six provinces. Their coalition is against the spirit of Gen Z protests, he argued.

Meanwhile, Khadka told THT that he had not spoken to Oli in the last two-three days and he did not want to do anything that could land him in controversy. He said he was busy with NC’s Central Working Committee meeting and its agenda.