Oath-taking of new Bagmati Province ministers postponed indefinitely

The oath-taking ceremony of newly appointed ministers in Bagmati Province, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed indefinitely.

The program was called off after the Province Chief suddenly left for Kathmandu due to health problems.

Devendra Sapkota, spokesperson for the Office of the Province Chief, issued a statement saying that the oath ceremony planned for 1 PM today has been postponed until further notice.

The statement reads:
“The swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed ministers of the Bagmati Province government, scheduled for 1 PM on Thursday, 15 Shrawan 2082 (July31), has been postponed until further notice. This decision was made after the Province Chief suddenly fell ill and had to leave for Kathmandu this morning for treatment.”

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama appointed Govinda Lamsal, Gita Gurung, and Maya Shrestha as ministers.

The oath ceremony, originally planned for Wednesday, was moved to Thursday because of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader election.

In the internal party election, Chief Minister Lama lost to Indra Bahadur Baniya. Baniya, who has the support of most Congress provincial assembly members, has been pressuring Lama to resign.

However, Lama has argued that losing the position of parliamentary party leader doesn’t mean he has to resign as Chief Minister.

He was appointed under Article 168 (2) of the Constitution, which allows a member of the provincial assembly who can command a majority with the support of two or more parties to become Chief Minister if no single party has a clear majority. According to this provision, being the party’s parliamentary leader is not mandatory to become Chief Minister, Lama has said.