The CPN-UML has decided to leave the government.
A meeting of the party secretariat held in Chyasal on Monday decided to resign from the government and also withdraw support for the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, according to UML Vice President Bishnu Paudel.
Paudel said the party made the decision out of fear that Prime Minister Dahal could remove UML ministers from the government or leave them without a portfolio.
The party had decided not to resign from the government immediately on Saturday, but suddenly reversed the decision on Monday. Prime Minister Dahal halting UML Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal’s visit to Geneva hours before she boarded the plane on Sunday appears to have triggered the decision.
“Dahal insultingly stopped the visit of the minister of our ruling party. We came to the conclusion that he can seize responsibilities from our ministers or expel them from the Cabinet at any time,” a UML official told Setopati. “We resigned from government to make sure we didn’t send the message that we stayed in government until Dahal removed us. This was obvious.”
UML had also calculated that there may be cross votes in the presidential elections due to a lack of confidence in the ruling coalition if it remains in government. A UML leader told Setopati that Prime Minister Dahal wished to oust the UML ministers and install the Nepali Congress (NC) in the government to prevent that from happening. “The Foreign Minister’s visit did not stop just because of Dahal’s decision. We felt that he was also under pressure from NC,” said the leader. “Dahal was preparing to take the floor test after RPP left the government. We understood that there would be efforts to expel us before then.”
