News Summary
Editorial reviewed.
- The expansion of the Madhesh Province government has been delayed after three UML lawmakers returned without taking oath due to dissatisfaction within the ruling Nepal Communist Party.
- After nearly two hours and 30 minutes of talks among parties, a new 13-point framework agreement was drafted to facilitate the government expansion.
- The new agreement includes removing budget plans under 10 million NPR, limiting the number of ministries to nine, and other key provisions.
May 24, Janakpur Dham – The expansion of the Madhesh Province government has been delayed due to dissent within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
Due to dissatisfaction within the party, three lawmakers from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), UML, who were called to take oath as ministers this evening, returned without taking the oath.
Chief Minister Krishna Prasad Yadav had prepared to appoint Sharadadevi Thapa, Manojkumar Singh, and Lakhan Das from UML as ministers and administer them the oath today. He had summoned them for the oath-taking ceremony at 5 pm.
Regarding the dissatisfaction within the NCP, three parties held talks lasting nearly two hours and 30 minutes. During the discussions, a new 13-point framework agreement was developed. The plan is to expand the government only after signing this agreement on Tuesday.
Earlier, there was a nine-point agreement, but it had not been signed and was expanded by adding more points to reach 13.
The agreement includes provisions such as excluding projects with budgets under 10 million NPR from the upcoming budget, implementing projects through open competition, limiting the number of ministries to nine, establishing criteria for staff transfers, and canceling all consumer committee letters whose validity has expired as per law.
Following this agreement, the plan is to appoint the three UML lawmakers along with a Finance Minister from the NCP tomorrow at 2 pm and administer their oaths.
