KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the administrative heart of Nepal, remains without a budget for the fiscal year 2025/26—days after the legal deadline has passed.
While five of the country’s six metropolitan cities have tabled their budgets on time, confusion and deadlock continue in the capital. A key reason: the shifting positions and “dual roles” of several ward chairs, most notably the city’s spokesperson, Nabin Manandhar.
Once considered a close ally of Mayor Balendra Shah, Manandhar—elected under the Nepali Congress ticket—has swung from fierce supporter to outspoken critic, and back again. This unpredictable behavior has sparked frustration among elected representatives and deepened the budget crisis.
“Ward chairs like Manandhar are playing both sides,” said one senior official on condition of anonymity. “One day they stand with the mayor, the next they accuse him. This inconsistency is preventing any consensus from forming.”
Manandhar’s changing stance is part of a broader leadership crisis gripping the city. A months-long rift between Mayor Shah and Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol has paralyzed cooperation at the top. The two have not met in over four months, making coordination on key issues—such as the budget—all but impossible.
The situation escalated in April when Manandhar led efforts to reinstate Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Saroj Guragain, who had been absent from office for nearly three months. This act strained his relationship with Mayor Shah.
In response, the mayor stripped Manandhar of his role as coordinator of the Information Technology Committee. Yet weeks later, Shah reinstated him and others to their posts after being unable to convene an executive meeting.
Manandhar’s sudden return to the mayor’s camp has raised eyebrows. Sources within the Metropolitan City suggest the mayor’s secretariat had been lobbying him with promises tied to “prestige projects” and assured financial benefits. His reversal has left many of his Nepali Congress colleagues confused—and divided.
The Nepali Congress now finds itself split within the city council, with some representatives accusing Manandhar and a few other ward chairs of jeopardizing institutional integrity for political proximity to Mayor Shah.
“This dual game is hurting the city,” one Nepali Congress-affiliated ward chair remarked. “We can’t draft a responsible budget while some of our colleagues keep shifting loyalties depending on what the mayor offers.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Shah has refused to hold any official meetings in the presence of CAO Guragain, citing a dispute over the unauthorized approval of a 19-storey Kathmandu Tower instead of the originally planned 12 storeys.
This standoff has blocked mandatory meetings of both the executive committee—which hasn’t met since mid-December—and the municipal assembly, which hasn’t convened for over six months.
Adding to the irony, while Shah insists on boycotting meetings involving Guragain, he continues to approve files and financial documents that require the CAO’s signature.
“On one hand, the mayor refuses to sit with the CAO in meetings. On the other, he has no problem using his signature to pass files and release salaries,” another elected official pointed out. “This contradiction is at the heart of why we still don’t have a budget.”
Under municipal law, the budget formulation process requires multiple levels of consultation and committee meetings involving both the mayor and the CAO. None of those procedures have been followed.
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