The newly appointed Chief Minister of Koshi Province, Uddhav Thapa, took the oath of office and secrecy on Friday.
Province Chief Parshuram Khapung administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Thapa amidst a ceremony.
Chief Minister Thapa was preparing to appoint three ministers and take the oath of office and secrecy before the province chief. But due to the dispute among the CPN (Maoist Center) leaders for the posts of ministers, Thapa was sworn in as Chief Minister an hour later than the scheduled time.
After the Maoist Center did not recommend a name for the minister, Chief Minister Thapa appointed Pradeep Kumar Sunuwar from the Congress and Kamal Prasad Jabegu from CPN (Unified Socialist) as the ministers.
Thapa was appointed as the chief minister by the province chief Parshuram Khapung in line with Article 168 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal on Thursday afternoon after he laid a claim for the post of Chief Minister with the support of 47 MPs including the Speaker Baburam Gautam.
Thapa is close to Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
With the support of coalition parties --CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party, Thapa submitted the claim to the province chief Khapung.
The support of 47 people is required to form the government in the 93-member Koshi Province Assembly.
The lawmakers who lent support to Thapa include 47 MPs, including 29 from the Congress, 13 from the Maoist Center including Speaker Gautam, four from the (United Socialist) and one from the JSP.
Besides, there are 40 MPs from CPN (UML), six from RPP who stayed in opposition.
After the downfall of the UML-led Koshi state government, province chief Khapung had issued Thursday pm deadline to submit a claim for the chief minister with the support of two or more than two parties.
