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The CPN-UML has issued a whip to all its members in the House of Representatives to mandatorily attend a Parliament meeting on Friday.

As Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is scheduled to seek a  vote of confidence on Friday, the party has directed all its lawmakers to mandatorily attend the meeting and vote against him, Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak informed.

The CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government fell into minority after the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress reached an agreement to form a national consensus government.

The UML has already issued a whip to all its members of the House of Representatives to attend a Parliament meeting scheduled for Friday and vote against Prime Minister Dahal.

Preparations are underway to form a new government under the headship of UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli by removing Dahal from the government.

In the 275-member House of Representatives, 138 seats are required for a majority.

The first and second largest parties of the Parliament Nepali Congress has 88 seats and UML has 79 seats.

The new alliance of the UML-NC has the support of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Democratic Socialist Party.

The CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rastraiya Swatantra Party are in favor of the Dahal-led government.

The CPN-UML has said that President Ram Chandra Paudel should initiate the government formation process as per Article 76(2) of the Constitution after the incumbent Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “loses the crucial floor test” in the Parliament on July 12.

A meeting of the party’s Secretariat meeting has taken such a decision. After the meeting, UML leader Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said: “There are no constitutional and legal ambiguities regarding the government formation process, there are precedents vis-a-vis government formation as per Article 76(2) of the constitution.” 

Furthermore, he said the NC and the UML will participate in the government on an equal basis.

It should be noted that NC and UML, the largest and the second largest party in the Parliament, have agreed to form a national unity government to address burning issues facing the country. 

Against this backdrop, the UML meeting has decided to strive for bringing in “more and more parties” in the government. While addressing the party meeting, party Chairperson KP Sharma Oli said there has not been any concrete agreement with the NC about forming a commission for suggesting ways to form the next government.

According to the UML chair, there has been a principled position on constitution amendment but no discussion has taken place (between the two parties) on specific issues concerning the amendment. Oli accused ‘some forces’ of trying to create confusion about the NC-UML agreement.

We have realized that some provisions in the Constitution should be amended in keeping with changing times, he said. Oli is of the view that Prime Minister Dahal, at the helm of a minority government after the UML’s recent withdrawal, is still working to prevent UML from forming the next government by refusing to step down.

The NC and UML have agreed to form a national unity government but the text of the agreement has not been made public yet. As things stand, Oli is supposed to become the PM in the first phase and then hand over power to Deuba for the remaining term. PM Dahal is seeking a vote of confidence on Friday amid speculations that odds are stacked against him.  

Meanwhile, the UML has issued a whip to all its members in the House of Representatives (HoR) to mandatorily attend a session of the lower house scheduled for July 12 and to vote against PM Dahal.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party has withdrawn support extended to the government.

A meeting held at the Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar on Wednesday, Parliamentary Party leader Ganga Ram Chaudhary said that the party has withdrawn support to the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government.

A letter about withdrawing support will be submitted on Thursday.

“We have withdrawn support to the government. The letter will be submitted tomorrow,” he said.

With this, Prime Minister Dahal will not get a vote of confidence from the Nagarik Unmukti Party.

The party withdrew its support after the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML forged an agreement to form a national consensus government.

Resham Chaudhary, the guardian of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, had already said the party would participate in the national consensus government.

He had expressed his commitment to participate in the national consensus government by holding a meeting with Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Only three lawmakers were present in the meeting.

Party Chairperson Rajita Shrestha was not present in the meeting.

The Nepali Congress has expressed grief over the loss of lives and property in the natural disasters including landslides and flooding throughout the country.

Stating that the life of the people has become difficult due to the adverse situation in the aftermath of the disaster incidents, the NC through a press release expressed sympathies to all the disaster-affected people.

The Nepali Congress has urged the three tiers of the government to immediately dispatch rescue teams to the affected areas for saving the lives of the disaster-hit people and for carrying out rescue and relief works. It has also called for making the rescue, relief and rehabilitation works more effective and for preventing further losses.

"The Congress urges the government to expedite the search for those gone missing, to provide relief to the affected families, to make arrangements for shelter for them and to carry out necessary works to ease the life of the people in the present difficult situation resulting from the natural disasters," reads the NC press release.

Congress has appealed to all the people affiliated to the party, the sister organizations and well-wisher organizations in the affected districts to extend support in the rescue and relief works through mutual coordination and by mobilizing the human resources in the entire organizational structure.

The NC stated that a large number of people have been injured and several others are still missing in the disaster incidents caused by the incessant rains since some days. It said many citizens have been displaced and their cultivable land damaged by the disasters. Passengers are also stranded due to the disruption of roads throughout the country.