Nepal: Setback for the government led by Prime Minister ‘Prachanda’

Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) President Upendra Yadav resigned on Monday. With Yadav’s resignation, his party has left the government. This is a setback for the coalition government led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda.

According to sources close to the Madhesi leader, Upendra Yadav was also the Minister of Health and Population in the government. He submitted his resignation to Prime Minister ‘Prachanda’ on Monday morning. Along with Yadav, his party’s State Minister for Forest and Environment Deepak Karki has also resigned.

Yadav’s resignation, the president of Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N), comes a week after his party split into two factions, with senior leader Ashok Rai forming a new party called Janata Samajwadi Party. The new party has been recognised by the Election Commission.

Yadav said, “This morning I submitted my resignation to Prime Minister Dahal. Given the current political situation, I find it untenable to continue my cooperation with the government. JSP-Nepal had a total of 12 MLAs in the House of Representatives (HoR). Now the party’s strength in the HoR has come down to 5, as Rai and six other MLAs and 30 central committee members have joined the new party.”

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Prachanda still has a majority with 77 seats of CPN-UML, 32 of Maoist Centre, 21 of Rashtriya Swatantra Party, seven of the newly formed Janata Samajwadi Party and 10 of CPN-Unified. The coalition needs at least 138 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives to prove majority.

Sunil Manandhar, former environment minister and central committee member of the ruling CPN-Maoist Centre, said, “The party’s exit from the government will not have an immediate impact on the coalition government led by Prachanda.” “However, it may have some impact on the stability of the government in the long term,” he said.

There are reports that the opposition Nepali Congress is trying to unite the JSP-Nepal led by former Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and the CPN-US to topple the Prachanda-led government. The Nepali Congress is currently disrupting the proceedings of the House of Representatives demanding the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane, who is also the chairman of the National Independence Party, over the issue of misuse of cooperative funds.

Political observers say that if the CPN-US also withdraws support from the government, the Prachanda-led government may need to prove its majority in the House of Representatives.