What Next For Nepal As Dahal Government Collapsed After Ministers' Mass Resignation?

Nepal government under Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" has collapsed as coalition ministers submitted their mass resignation and retracted their support.

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' (Picture source: ANI)

New Delhi: After a two-day political drama, the incumbent government under Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" has collapsed in Nepal as coalition ministers submitted their mass resignation and retracted their support.  

The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), the key ally of the Dahal-led government, walked out following the expiration of the 24-hour deadline given on Tuesday, plunging the nation into political uncertainty. 

The party had given a 24-hour deadline to Prime Minister Dahal to step down from the post, calling for a ‘respectful exit.’ 

On Wednesday (July 3) eight ministers from the CPN-UML party, who had been part of Prime Minister Dahal's cabinet since March 4, resigned. They submitted their resignations to the Prime Minister at his residence in Baluwatar after first meeting with their party leader, UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, at his home in Balkot. 

What Happens Next? 

On Monday night, the UML and Congress parties agreed to form a new government. Oli will be the Prime Minister for the first year and a half, and then former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will take over for the rest of the term.  

However, Prime Minister Dahal didn't want to resign right away.

Instead, his party decided in a meeting on Tuesday that he will stay in office and face a trust vote in Parliament within 30 days to see if he still has enough support to remain Prime Minister. 

New Coalition Agreement 

According to the agreement, the leaders of the two largest parties will rotate the leadership of the government over the remaining three-and-a-half-year term of the current parliament. 

On Wednesday, the Nepali Congress formally endorsed the agreement with the CPN-UML to form a new coalition government. The deal was approved during a central work execution committee meeting at party President Sher Bahadur Deuba's residence in Budhanilkantha. 

The statement cited by news agency ANI read, “The meeting expresses its determination to implement the agreement reached between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML regarding leading governments on a rotation basis to protect national interests.” 

The overnight deal also agrees to draft a constitutional amendment stating that the Vice President would become the chairman of the National Assembly. 

During the meeting, the leaders informed the President that they would activate Section 76 (2) to form a new government if the current Prime Minister, Prachanda, loses the vote of confidence after the UML withdraws its support. Prachanda must seek a vote of confidence from parliament again after losing a party's support. He came to power after the 2022 General Elections and has already faced four confidence votes in parliament.

(Based on inputs from ANI)