Oppn alliance expedites preparations to topple Acharya-led govt even as new cabinet is yet to get full shape

KATHMANDU, August 28: Even as the newly-appointed Chief Minister of Province 1, Bhim Acharya is yet to give a full shape to his Cabinet, the opposition alliance has already expedited preparations to form a new government.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Rajendra Rai said the opposition alliance has already reached an agreement to oust the Acharya-led government in Province 1 at the earliest possible. "The Election Commission has given the people's representatives to choose a political party within 21 days," he said. "We are compelled to wait for 21 days."

Rai said of the total 52 UML lawmakers in Province 1, over 12 are joining the CPN (Unified Socialist). He said that 10 lawmakers have already announced to be part of the Unified Socialist party, while a few other lawmakers are also likely to make similar announcements to be part of the newly-formed party in the next few days.

Sources said the opposition alliance has already reached an agreement to form a new government in Province 1. The new government will have representation of the Nepali Congress, the CPN (Maoist Center), the Janata Samajwadi Party and the Madhav Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) party.

NC Chief Whip of Province 1 Assembly, Kedar Karki said the opposition alliance is making all necessary preparations to topple the government led by Acharya as the latter had used forged signatures to form his government. He argued that Acharya had forged signatures to form the government in haste even without waiting for the 21 days given by the EC for the UML lawmakers to choose their party after the split of the UML.

Before the split, the UML had 52 lawmakers, NC had 21, CPN (Maoist Center) 15 , Janata Samajbadi Party 3, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the United Democratic National Forum had one lawmaker each in Province 1. Province 1 government led by Acharya will fall in minority if five of the UML lawmakers choose to stay with the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led Unified Socialist.

Opposition party leaders claimed that the Acharya-led government would last for less than a month since more than 10 UML lawmakers have already decided to stay with the Nepal-led Unified Socialist party. There are a total of 93 lawmakers in Province 1.

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