Nepal Government In Minority After Key Party Withdraws Support In Upper House

A key Madhesi party in Nepal has formally withdrawn support to Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli-led ruling coalition, reducing it to a minority in the National Assembly.

However, the decision by Janata Samajwadi Party, Nepal (JSP Nepal), led by Upendra Yadav, will not immediately affect the coalition government's longevity as the ruling alliance has sufficient strength in the House of Representatives.

Oli's party said it didn't see any reason for the JSP Nepal to withdraw support.

JSP Nepal decided to withdraw its support to the government during the party's executive council meeting held on June 23 and 24.

"The party will now officially convey its decision to the Speaker of the Parliament after convening a meeting of our Parliamentary Party in a few days," JSP Nepal vice president Shiva Lal Thapa told PTI.

Last year, while assuming the leadership of the government with the support of Nepali Congress, Oli had promised to end corruption, bring good governance, make economic progress and amend the constitution, he said.

"We had extended support to the government on these four agendas. However, now after a year, we don't see that the government is concerned about these issues. Therefore, we decided to withdraw support to the Oli-led government," he added.

In the National Assembly, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) with its 18 members is the largest party; followed by Nepali Congress with 16 members; Oli's Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has 11 members while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) has eight seats.

Among the rest, the JSP Nepal has three seats; the Rashtriya Janmorcha and the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party each have one seat and there is one independent. That leaves the ruling coalition of Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) with 27 seats in the 59 member house.

However, JSP-Nepal's decision will not immediately affect the coalition government's longevity, though it will put some moral pressure on the government, said Sunil Manandhar, former environment minister and central member of CPN-Maoist Centre.

The ruling alliance has sufficient strength in the House of Representatives, therefore, it will not weaken the strength of the ruling alliance, he pointed out.

It cannot affect the lawmaking process either. "It can only prevent the government in the process of constitutional amendment, which is one of the key agenda of Oli-led government," he added.

Reacting to the decision of JSP Nepal, Pradeep Gyawali, deputy general secretary of CPN- UML said that it would have been better if the party did not withdraw its support to the government. "We didn't see there is any reason for the JSP Nepal to withdraw support to the coalition government." Reacting to JSP-Nepal's decision, Pradeep Gyawali, deputy general secretary of CPN-UML said that it would have been better if the party did not withdraw its support to the government.

"We don't see there is any reason for the JSP-Nepal to withdraw support to the coalition government," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)