KATHMANDU: Bagmati Province Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama has agreed to step down on Sunday under a conditional arrangement reached with Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.
According to party sources, Lama will resign if three ministers he appointed on July 30 are allowed to continue in their posts under the new provincial government. The deal was struck during a meeting at Deuba’s residence in Budhanilkantha on Saturday.
On July 30, Lama appointed Govinda Lamsal as Minister for Internal Affairs and Law, Maya Shrestha as Minister for Youth and Sports, and Geeta Gurung as Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. However, coalition partner CPN-UML had blocked their swearing-in.
Ramkrishna Chitrakar, a provincial assembly member who attended Saturday’s discussions, confirmed that Deuba and Indra Bahadur Baniya – the newly elected leader of the NC provincial parliamentary party – agreed to the condition.
“We insisted that the three ministers be sworn in, and both the party president and Baniya agreed. The Chief Minister will resign tomorrow,” Chitrakar told Khabarhub.
The meeting also discussed ways to reconcile the parliamentary party, which has been divided into two factions. “The party is split into two groups. We said we must work in line with collective consultation, and they agreed,” Chitrakar added.
Lama lost the party’s provincial parliamentary leadership vote to Baniya on July 30. Before the vote, he appointed the three ministers, which many saw as a bid to secure his position. Following his defeat, he came under mounting pressure from within the party to resign.
Deuba had called Lama to his residence on Thursday evening to urge him to pave the way for a leadership change. Saturday’s meeting brought Lama and Baniya together, along with 14 provincial assembly members loyal to Lama, to finalize the exit strategy.
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