Jamkattel to seek confidence vote today

By Rammani Dahal,Hetauda, Mar. 22: Bagmati Province Chief Minister Shalik Ram Jamkattel is set to seek a vote of confidence on Wednesday, March 22. Yet, the parties in the Provincial Assembly have still not decided whether to support him or not. 

The largest party Nepali Congress, as well as the CPN-UML and CPN (Unified Socialist) have not made any formal decision on whether or not to support CM Jamkattel, who belongs to the CPN (Maoist Centre). 

Jamkattel was forced to go for a floor test because the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) pulled out of the government and withdrew its support on February 25. RPP was one of the parties that had initially supported Jamkattel's appointment as the chief minister on January 9. The other parties were the UML, Unified Socialist and Hamro Nepali Party.

However, considering that the UML and Maoist have parted ways at the federal level, will the UML side with the Maoist-led government in Bagmati? When asked this, Jagannath Thapaliya, spokesperson for the provincial government and head of UML's parliamentary party in Bagmati Provincial Assembly, said that his party had not taken any decision.

Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Thapaliya said that they would decide on the day of the floor test based on the decisions made in Kathmandu. The RPP also said that they would decide on Wednesday itself.

Meanwhile, parties who presently stand with the Maoists at the centre and in the province are dissatisfied that the Chief Minister did not consult them before going for the confidence vote.  

Kundan Raj Kafle, Congress's chief whip in the Provincial Assembly, informed that they had requested CM Jamkattel to postpone the trust vote. He also said that his party had not yet decided on whether or not  to vote in favour of the government. 

Similarly, Unified Socialist leader and former provincial minister Krishna Prasad Sharma Khanal said that there had been no discussions on the confidence motion and said that the parties in the coalition would make a common decision.

Meanwhile, Maoist leader and the Provincial Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Yuvaraj Dulal expressed confidence that the coalition parties would support the Bagmati government in the floor test, just like they did at the federal level. "Yes, Congress and other parties have asked us to delay the vote. But we still have to take a vote of confidence, whether today or a few days later," he said. "We are sure we will get the required votes."

The Provincial Assembly will convene at 3 pm on Wednesday for the Chief Minister to table his confidence motion. The Chief Minister had first taken a vote of confidence on January 17.