State 1: UML whips MPs to vote against CM Rai

BIRATNAGAR: NOV. 17 – A meeting of the CPN-UML Parliamentary Party has issued a whip to its MPs to vote against Rajendra Rai as the Chief Minister of State 1. A meeting of the UML’s Gandaki State Parliamentary Party on Wednesday morning issued a whip to its lawmakers to vote against the vote of confidence being taken by Chief Minister Rai.

The CPN-UML, which has 41 members in the state assembly, is absconding on the charge of stealing one speaker and one government document. Chief Minister Rai of the coalition government is scheduled to take a vote of confidence from today’s meeting of the state assembly.

Though it was said that the vote of confidence would be taken on Tuesday, the date of taking the vote of confidence from the meeting of the state assembly on Tuesday was fixed for Wednesday as not a single member of the opposition party CPN-UML was present.

The coalition has 21 MPs from the Congress, 15 from the Maoists, 10 from the CPN-U, three from the JSP and one from the United Democratic National Forum. There are 41 UML MPs and one RPP MP in the state assembly.

The number of UML members has decreased after the CPN (UML) split from 10 out of 51 members until the split. Earlier, CPN-UML parliamentary party leader Rajendra Prasad Rai was appointed as the Chief Minister of State 1 on behalf of the coalition after the UML chief minister Bhim Acharya resigned from the post.

According to the legal provision, a vote of confidence must be taken within a month of the appointment of the Chief Minister.