With the new equation between Congress and UML at the center, the game of changing the state governments has started. Which seems to have an impact on the budget. Although the budget for the coming year has been presented and passed by some provincial assemblies, there is talk of a supplementary budget. Some budgets are yet to be passed.

Since the general election of 079, in the past one and a half years, the Chief Minister has changed 22 times in 7 provinces and the vote of confidence has been taken 24 times. With the new equation of Congress-UML, this series will increase further. 

On this June 17, it was agreed that UML would lead the government in Koshi, Lumbini and Karnali and Congress would lead the government in Bagmati, Gandaki and Sudurpaschim. An agreement was reached between the Congress and the UML to give the leadership of the Madhesh government to the Madhesh party. The UML has withdrawn its support from the Maoist-led Bagmati and Lumbini and the S-led Far West government. 

The parties have already started racing to take the leadership of the government in Bagmati, Lumbini and Sudurpaschim. According to the 'consensus' between the parties in the new coalition, it seems that the leadership of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali governments will remain, while in Madhesh, the Janmat Party-led government has received a vote of confidence on Saturday. The Congress is going to participate in the UML-led Koshi and Karnali governments by excluding the Maoists, while the UML is preparing to participate in the Congress-led Gandaki government. 

According to the Inter-Governmental Finance Management Act-2074, the state governments must bring the budget for the next fiscal year on June 1. According to this provision, the provincial governments brought the budget on 1st of June. The budget brought by the government of the old ruling coalition was currently being discussed in the state assembly. So far the budget has been passed in Koshi, Wagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali.

In Madhesh and Far West, the budget has yet to be passed as it is still under discussion in the Provincial Assembly. In Madhesh, a state assembly meeting has been called to discuss the budget on 28th, but before that, the government itself is confused. According to the agreement that the Madhesh party will lead the government of Madhesh province in the new coalition, the Janmat Party Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh was given a vote of confidence on Saturday, but the expansion of the government is in confusion. Congress has not participated in the government saying that it did not get the ministry as agreed, while the LOSPA is on the stand of getting two ministries. 

If the agreement is not implemented, there has been a discussion between the parties about forming a government under the leadership of Congress. Chief Minister Singh took the vote of confidence in the state assembly on Saturday after agreeing to form the government with the public opinion, Congress, UML and LOSPA. Chief Minister Singh is unable to make a decision after the Congress took a stand on four ministries and the LOSPA on two. Chief Minister Singh has tried to keep the Ministry of Finance, which is said to be given to the Congress, with him.

Krishna Prasad Yadav, the leader of Congress Madhesh Pradesh Parliamentary Party, said that after giving a vote of confidence to the government led by public opinion, the situation of no confidence has come. "Before taking the vote of confidence, it was agreed to give Congress 4 ministries including finance," he said.

Congress has not sent ministers to the government after not getting the finance ministry. Congress MP Virender Singh said that the meeting with the UML and LOSPA held at the Congress office on Monday, saying that Chief Minister Singh did not implement the agreement before taking the vote of confidence, there was also a discussion about going ahead with the government formation process under the leadership of the Congress if the ministry is not given as agreed. 

'Apart from public opinion, 55 MPs including 25 UML, 22 Congress and 8 LOSPA are enough to form a government,' he said, 'We will move forward according to the agreement of the federal coalition, if the public opinion does not implement the agreement, there is an agreement between the three parties to continue the process of forming a coalition government under the leadership of Congress. Congress has prepared to send Janardan Singh Chhetri, Sunil Yadav, Shesh Narayan Yadav and Kaushal Kishore Rai to the government. As the power equation changed, on Saturday, Chief Minister Singh dismissed six ministers of Maoist, S, Civil Liberation and Nepal Federal Socialists before taking the vote of confidence. For the previous 5 years of the state assembly, there was a JSP-led government in Madhesh. After JSP's Saroj Kumar Yadav did not receive a vote of confidence in his second term, Janmaat's Satish Kumar Singh became the Chief Minister on May 25 with the support of UML, Maoist, S, Civil Liberties and Nepal Federal Socialists. 

Madhesh Chief Minister Singh claimed that there was no agreement by appointing ministries and said that now the responsibility of distribution has been given to the center. "There was no agreement to assign the ministry," said Chief Minister Singh, "The ministry will be distributed according to the agreement made by the alliance at the center." The government will be expanded according to the agreement reached by the parties at the center.

Bagmati and Sudur-Paschim chief ministers will not leave the government

Bagmati and Sudur-Paschim chief ministers, who are in the minority after the withdrawal of UML's support, will take a vote of confidence without resigning. Shalikram Jamkattel, who became the chief minister of Wagmati from Maoist, has said that he will not leave the government immediately. On Monday, the second largest party in the House, the UML withdrew its support and left the government by resigning its 5 ministers. 

Even if all the parties except the Congress-UML combine, there is no chance of saving the Jamkattel-led government. Chief Minister Jamkattel has claimed to take a vote of confidence soon after discussions with the ruling party. The meeting of the Maoist Parliamentary Party has also suggested Jamkattel to proceed with a vote of confidence in the House. Jamkattel is currently supported by S and our Nepali Party. 

"I will call the House for a vote of confidence soon, I will not wait for 30 days," said Chief Minister Jamkattel. The Congress-UML leaders are waiting for central instructions to form the government as per the new power equation. It is agreed that the Congress will take the leadership of Wagmati in the new alliance. The Congress, which spent most of its time on the opposition bench until it had 4 chief ministers, is going to lead the government for the first time in Bagmati. Bahadursin Lama, the leader of the Congress Wagmati Province Parliamentary Party, said that although the government will be formed in the province according to the agreement reached at the center, it will have to wait for some time. He said that government formation and management issues will be discussed at the provincial level after the appointment of a new prime minister.

UML parliamentary party leader Jagannath Thapalia said that he is waiting for the central directive to speed up the state government formation process. "The matter has not been cleared at the center yet, we will wait for a few days," he said. Jamkattel took the vote of confidence for the first time on March 3, 1979, while UML took the vote of confidence for the second time on March 10, the same year after leaving the government, and for the third time on March 19, 1980, after the Congress left the government. There are 37 MPs from Congress, 27 from UML, 21 from Maoists, 13 from RPP, 7 from S, 3 from Nemkipa and 2 from our Nepali Party in the 110-member Wagmati State Assembly.

Sodari also gets a vote of confidence

Less than a week after four ministries were divided to sustain the government, the government of the Far West Chief Minister Galigh Bahadur Sodari has fallen into a minority. The Congress-UML has jointly demanded the resignation of S.A. Chief Minister Sodari, who is in the minority. Chief Minister Sodari has said that the vote of confidence will be tested. Last Thursday, UML withdrew its support and resigned three of its ministers within three weeks of joining the government. Two of the three ministers were able to lead the ministry for only 4 days. On May 28, Surendra Bahadur Pal was assigned the Ministry of Economic Affairs from UML. Bir Bahadur Thapa and Heera Sarki, who are ministers together, were given the responsibility of the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Cooperatives only on June 16. 

Sodari became the Chief Minister on May 6 with the support of UML, Maoist, Civil Immunity (Ranjita Shrestha Group) and an independent MP. In the 53-member Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly, 11 members of the UML, 10 of the Maoists, 4 of the SK, 2 of the Civil Immunity and one independent MP gave their vote of confidence on May 3. In the Sodari government, there are 3 ministers from Maoists, 2 from Civil Liberties and one minister from S. 

Congress leader Kamal Bahadur Shah and UML leader Rajendra Rawal have already started discussions to form the government according to the new alliance. 27 votes are required to form the government. 18 members of the Congress and 11 members of the UML will easily get that number of votes. 

Congress-UML race for leadership in Lumbini 

In Lumbini on Thursday, Congress-UML leaders have stepped up the race to lead the next government after 5 UML ministers resigned, withdrawing their support to Maoist Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara. As the chief minister was in the minority after withdrawing support from the government, the UML gave an information letter to the state chief Amik Sherchan on Friday to start the process of forming the next government. Even though the leadership of the government at the center has ended, the leaders have said that there is no decision or direction regarding the province. 

UML parliamentary party leader Leela Giri said that no instructions have been received yet on how to proceed with regard to the province. Congress chief whip Janmjay Timilsina said formal discussions with UML leaders about government formation are yet to be held. "Until the instructions come from the center, we did not want to discuss it now," he said, "Once the leadership is decided from the center, the discussion will start automatically." In the 87-member Lumbini state assembly, the UML-Congress alliance will increase to 56 MPs.

Chief Ministers of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali are 'Dhukkai'

The Chief Ministers of these three provinces are like 'Dhukkai' after the agreement between the new alliance that the UML-led government in Koshi and Karnali and the Congress-led government in Gandaki came out. Both parties have an easy majority in the state assembly. It is certain that the Maoists will leave the government in Koshi and Karnali, while the government in Gandaki is still out. There are 29 members of the Congress and 40 members of the UML in the 93-member Koshi state assembly. Hikmat Kumar Karki of UML seems certain to be the chief minister here. It is certain that the consensus of the Janata Samajwadi Party will also join the new alliance. 

It seems that S who has decided to give a vote of confidence to the Maoists in the central power coalition will remain out of power. After taking the vote of confidence at the center, it will be decided whether Koshi will stay in the government or not," said Indra Bahadur Angbo, the leader of the Maoist Koshi State Assembly Parliamentary Party. "There is no disagreement with the chief minister and no concrete situation has developed at the center, so we have not thought about leaving the government yet." 

Even if Congress and UML combine in Gandaki, more than two-thirds of the votes will reach 82 percent. When the Congress and UML form a government easily, the compulsion to appoint one MP as a minister to garner support for the government will end. There are 27 MPs from Congress and 22 MPs from UML out of 60 members in Gandaki State Assembly. There are 7 MPs from Maoists, 2 from RPP, 1 from Nepal Samajwadi and 1 from Independent. 

Even if only Congress and UML are added together, there are 49 MPs. The Maoists, who helped UML's Khagraj Adhikari to form the first government of the second term of the state assembly, voted in favor of Congress's Surendraraj Pandey for the second time. For the third time, the support of the Maoists was again for the official. When the government was formed for the fourth time, Pandey was elected the Chief Minister with the support of RPRPA, NSP MP Phaninder Devkota and independent MP Rajiv Gurung (Deepak Manange). 

MP Deepak Manange got the opportunity to become a minister many times when there was a situation where the government could change even with the support of one MP. Manange, who was the Minister of Youth and Sports during the tenure of UML's Prithvisubba Gurung and Congress's Krishna Chandra Nepali in the previous term of the state, got the opportunity to hold an important ministry like physical planning in the government of Adhikari and Pandey in the second term. 

In Karnali province, both parties have a clear majority in forming the new government. The 40-member Karnali state assembly has 14 MPs from the Congress and 14 from the UML. The current chief minister Yamlal Kandel of UML seems optimistic that the government will continue under his leadership. He became the Chief Minister with the support of Maoists and UML. 

UML MP Tulsa Malla claimed that Karnali will be led by her own party as per the initial agreement between the top leaders at the centre. "Now the Congress is also in a situation without a leader of the parliamentary party," she said.