National
Race for chief minister begins in all provinces
With the swearing-in of governors and provincial assembly members, race for the chief minister has begun in all the seven provinces.With the swearing-in of governors and provincial assembly members, race for the chief minister has begun in all the seven provinces.
According to the provincial election results, the left alliance is poised to form governments in six provinces. In Province 2, the alliance of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal has a majority to form the government.
Both the left bloc and the Madhesi alliance are holding consultations to pick candidates for the posts of chief ministers, deputy chief ministers, speakers, deputy speakers and other prominent posts including provincial ministers. They have yet to reach a deal, said leaders.
In the left alliance, there is an understanding that the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) will appoint four and two chief ministers, respectively. The Maoists want their candidates to lead the governments in provinces 6 and 7. But on Monday, a meeting of the Province 6 Parliamentary Party of the UML decided to claim the chief minister’s post.
According to a statement issued by UML leader Yamlal Kadel, since the UML has a majority in Province 6, the post of chief minister should go to the party.
In Province 5, the left alliance has picked Shankar Pokhrel as the chief minister candidate but an official decision is yet to be made.
In Province 4, after senior UML leaders Kiran Gurung and Prithivi Subba Gurung staked their claims to the post, the party is weighing the option of rotating their tenures. “The party will choose one of them. If that is not possible, there is also the possibility of sharing the five-year tenure between the two,” said UML leader Rabindra Adhikari.
Power-sharing has not been final between the SSF-N and the RJP-N with both the parties claiming the chief minister’s post. According to leaders, negotiations are going on between the two forces.
SSF-N Co-chair Rajendra Shrestha said they had not discussed the matter but the largest party in the province would not give up its claim.
List of hopefuls
Province 1
1. Sherdhan Rai (UML)
2. Bhim Acharya (UML)
Province 2
1. Lalbabu Raut (SSF-N)
2. Bijay Yadav (SSF-N)
3. Manish Suman
Province 3
1. Asta Laxmi Shakya (UML)
2. Rajendra Pandey (UML)
Province 4
1. Kiran Gurung (UML)
2. Prithvi Subba Gurung (UML)
Province 5
1. Shanker Pokhrel (UML)
2. Kul Prasad KC (MC)
Province 6
1. Mahendra Bahadur Shahi (MC)
2. Naresh Bhandari (MC)
2. Prakash Jwala (UML)
3. Yam Lal Kandel (UML)
Province 7
1. Trilochan Bhatta (MC)
2. Nirban Chaudhary (MC)
3. Mahesh Joshi (MC)
4. Man Bahadur Dhami (MC)
5. Jhapat Bohora (MC)
6. Devaki Malla (MC)