Four Bagmati Province ministers dismissed

By Rammani Dahal,Makawanpur, July 27: Chief Minister of Bagmati Province, Bahadur Singh Lama Tamang, has dismissed four ministers from the Bagmati provincial cabinet.

Chief Minister Lama  on Friday night relieved Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Suraj Chandra Lamichhane, Minister for Culture and Tourism Bimal Thakuri, Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Madu Kumar Shrestha, and Minister for Youth and Sports Min Krishna Maharjan from their posts. All four were ministers from the Nepali Congress.

A letter sent to the Provincial Chief stated that the ministers were removed under Article 169 (2)(b) of the Constitution of Nepal. 

The decision came after the ministers signed a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Lama, who also leads the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party in the province.

Lama said he took action after learning they had signed the motion against him. “The ministers did not formally resign. They were removed because they signed a no-confidence motion while still being a part of the government,” he said. Altogether, 21 Provincial Assembly members, including the four dismissed ministers, signed the proposal to remove Lama as the party’s parliamentary leader.

Among those who signed the proposal were Indra Bahadur Baniya, President of the Nepali Congress Bagmati Province Committee.

The Nepali Congress holds 37 seats in the Bagmati Provincial Assembly.