INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, JULY 6Province Chief Parshuram Khapung appointed Uddhav Thapa, leader of Nepali Congress Koshi Province
Parliamentary Party, as the fifth chief minister of Koshi.
Ruling alliance proposes NC's Uddhav Thapa as Koshi CM
Ruling alliance forwards NC's Thapa as chief minister in Koshi
Province head Khapung appointed him the new Koshi CM immediately after
he claimed the position from the coalition for appointment to the office."According to Article 168(2) of the constitution, I have appointed
you chief minister of Koshi
I sincerely congratulate you on being appointed the chief minister and wish you a successful tenure,'' said the province head.
Article 168 (2) of the constitution stipulates, in case there is no clear majority of any party in the Province Assembly, a member of the
PA who can garner majority with the support of two or more parties represented in the PA can be appointed chief minister
The chief minister appointed in this way has to take vote of confidence in the Province Assembly within 30 days.Earlier, UML leader and
former chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki had managed to get 46 votes while taking the vote of confidence
The shift at the centre was responsible for the UML government losing its majority in Koshi.After the Maoists sided with the Congress during
the presidential election last February, the CPN-UML and the RPP left the Dahal-led government.After the UML-Maoist alliance collapsed at
the centre, the Congress-Maoist alliance was formed in the provinces along with the centre.But considering that parties other than UML and
RPP were not able to get majority in Koshi Province, the Maoists and JSP-N, which had allied with the opposition camp of the UML at the
centre, maintained their support for the government for a long time.However, Thapa, who succeeded in toppling the government led by
CPN-UML's Hikmat Karki to become chief minister, was supported by CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist) Party and Janata Samajwadi
Party-Nepal.Thapa needed 47 lawmakers' support to claim the chief ministership in the 93 member PA
Thapa submitted his claim with 29 lawmakers from Nepali Congress, 13 from CPN- MC including the speaker, four from CPN (US) and one from
JSP-N.Province head Khapung on Sunday had issued a notice to political parties asking them to submit their claims by July 6.Earlier, CPN-UML
and Rastriya Prajatantra party together had submitted a memorandum to the province head Khapung to annul Thapa's claim, arguing it was
unconstitutional to form government with the incumbent speaker.The UML has further said that the appointment is contrary to the principle of
separation of powers, saying that the constitution provides that the speaker can give his support only in case of equal votes."The
constitution does not envisage the formation of government with the involvement of the speaker
Such an act is unparliamentary and unconstitutional
The position of the speaker is considered to be politically neutral
Rather than forming a government like this, it is better not to have a province government," wrote constitutional expert Bhimarjun
Acharya.Chief Minister Thapa was born on 30 November 1957
A permanent resident of Ward No 4 of Arjundhara Municipality in Jhapa, he started politics in 1975 from the Nepali Congress affiliated Nepal
Students Union.Thapa became village committee secretary of the party in 1990
He was elected regional chairman of the party's Jhapa Constituency-2 in the 8th district convention in the year 1978
He became Jhapa district secretary from the 10th district convention, deputy chairman from the 11th convention and Jhapa district chairman
from the 12th convention.Thapa, who is a management graduate, has worked for three years as member of the political apparatus of the then
District Development Committee, Jhapa.For the first time, he became a candidate from Jhapa constituency No 4 in the second election of the
Constituent Assembly and was defeated by CPN-UML candidate Prem Giri.A version of this article appears in the print on July 7, 2023, of The
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com
