KATHMANDU, July 17: The Sudurpaschim provincial government has been reduced to a minority after the CPN-UML withdrew its support, leaving the province without an approved budget for the new fiscal year and plunging it into political uncertainty.
Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah had sought the support of the main opposition Nepali Communist Party (NCP) after the UML exited the ruling coalition. However, the NCP decided not to back the government, leaving it without a majority in the Provincial Assembly.
The political crisis has also stalled passage of the province's budget for the fiscal year 2026/27. As the budget failed to secure endorsement by the end of the fiscal year, Sudurpaschim has entered a budget vacuum.
The coalition unraveled over a dispute surrounding the provincial budget. Amid the controversy, Minister for Economic Affairs Bikram Singh Dhami presented a Rs 37.70 billion budget at midnight on June 15. However, the budget was tabled in the Provincial Assembly only three weeks later.
FM Rana advocates for feminist foreign policy to promote equali...
Demanding that the budget be rewritten, six UML lawmakers from the then ruling coalition registered expenditure-cut proposals against it. As the dispute intensified, Chief Minister Shah on Wednesday dismissed three UML ministers and one state minister from the Cabinet, prompting the UML to withdraw its support formally.
NCP Sudurpaschim Parliamentary Party leader Khagraj Bhatta also registered an expenditure-cut proposal against the budget.
NCP demands Chief Minister's resignation
Meanwhile, the main opposition NCP has demanded Chief Minister Shah's resignation, arguing that his government has already lost the confidence of the Provincial Assembly.
Following a meeting of its parliamentary party on Friday, Bhatta said the party had decided to urge Shah to step down at the earliest and refrain from taking decisions with long-term implications while leading a minority government.
Bhatta said allowing a minority government to remain in office for a prolonged period under such sensitive circumstances would not serve the province's long-term interests.
The NCP parliamentary party also formed a negotiation committee, coordinated by Bhatta, to initiate talks with all parties represented in the Provincial Assembly in an effort to form a new government under the party's leadership.
The committee includes Deputy Parliamentary Party Leader Prakash Rawal, Chief Whip Khushi Ram Chaudhary, and former ministers Man Bahadur Dhami and Ramesh Singh Dhami.
Bhatta said the party would engage all political forces in the Assembly to explore the formation of a new government, arguing that the collapse of the ruling coalition had created an opportunity for an alternative administration.
Shah was appointed chief minister for a second term on August 4, 2024, with the support of the UML.
