Bagmati Province Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama’s resignation, initially expected today, has been postponed as Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota remains hospitalized. Devkota is undergoing treatment for a urinary tract infection at Kathmandu’s Grande International Hospital.
Lama was set to submit his resignation to the Province Chief in Hetauda, but with Devkota’s discharge expected later today, the process has been deferred to Sunday.
According to MP Ram Krishna Chitrakar, Lama will now hold a cabinet meeting and press conference before formally stepping down.
Despite losing the Congress parliamentary party (PP) leadership to Indra Bahadur Baniya, Lama had initially refused to step down. However, after pressure from party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, he agreed to do so on the condition that his recently appointed ministers Govinda Lamsal, Geeta Gurung, and Maya Shrestha retain their positions in Baniya’s cabinet.
After securing 21 out of 37 provincial assembly votes against Lamama, Baniya is poised to take over as Chief Minister of Bagmati Province. As per the NC-Maoist coalition agreement, Baniya will serve eight months before the helm shifts to UML.
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