Days after a major alliance partner quit his government, another ally on Friday withdrew its support to Nepal's embattled Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' readying for a vote of confidence on July 12.
The prime minister sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat asking the latter to make arrangements for the vote of confidence.
In a letter addressed to the federal parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Prachanda mentioned that after one of the members of the ruling alliance withdrew the support to the government, he will seek a vote of confidence on July 12 under Article 100 (2) of the constitution of Nepal.
Later in the evening, three Janata Samajbadi Party JSP leaders, who were part of the government -- Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Yadav, Minister for Forest and Environment Nawal Kishor Sah Sudi and State Minister for Health Hasina Khan – tendered their resignations.
“We would like to inform you [prime minister] that the support given to the government formed under your leadership has been withdrawn with effect from today as per the decision of the party meeting held on Friday,” Ashok Rai, chair of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Prachanda.
Apart from Rai, who is also the parliamentary party leader of the JSP, the party has six more members in the House of Representatives (HoR).
Earlier, Prachanda, 69, had announced that he would not quit after the resignation of eight Cabinet ministers belonging to the largest party and instead face a vote of confidence in Parliament.
His announcement was prompted after Nepali Congress (NC) president Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman K P Sharma Oli, both former premiers, inked a power-sharing deal on Monday night to form a new NC-UML alliance government.
The Nepali Congress, which is the largest party in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR), has 89 seats, while CPN-UML has 78 seats. Prachanda's party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), has 32 seats.
The CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US), which has 10 seats in the Lower House, has said it will vote in favour of the Prachanda-led government. Despite that support, Prachanda enjoys support from just 63 members of the HoR. One of the coalition partners Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), however, had earlier on Thursday decided not to quit the coalition immediately.
Prachanda requires 138 votes for the government to win the vote of confidence in the House.
This will be the fifth time Prachanda will seek a vote of confidence within a term of one and a half years. It is required for the coalition government to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days if a coalition partner withdraws support.
Nepal has had 13 governments in the last 16 years, indicating the fragile nature of the Himalayan nation's political system.
