KATHMANDU: Province 1 Chief Minister Rajendra Rai has accused Speaker Pradip Kumar Bhandari of postponing the meeting of the Provincial Assembly (PA) under CPN-UML’s instruction.

Speaker Bhandari had adjourned the meeting till 11:30 pm on Wednesday as the main opposition party CPN-UML did not participate in the PA meeting, in which CM Rai was set to take a vote of confidence.

Chief Minister Rai expressed dissatisfaction over the Speaker’s decision. He said that the main opposition party had requested to stop today’s meeting only with the intention of causing grief and the speaker had postponed the meeting following the UML’s directive. “I had a discussion with him about the procedure till the morning. This is not good,” said Chief Minister Rai.

Saying that the CPN-UML was counting Speaker Bhandari among its lawmakers, Chief Minister Rai remarked that the Speaker had also shown that in practice.

CM Rai is scheduled to take a vote of confidence Wednesday now.