Bir Bahadur Thapa, a lawmaker from the CPN-UML, resigned in protest against the budget passed by the Sudurpaschim provincial assembly, deepening divisions within the ruling coalition led by the Nepali Communist Party Khagraj Bhatta.
Thapa, a former minister for land management, agriculture and cooperatives, submitted his resignation to provincial Speaker Bhim Bahadur Bhandari, according to leaders close to him.
The province had been without an approved budget for three months before the government presented its new budget in the assembly on Sunday. The previous budget, introduced on June 15 by the government led by Nepali Congress’s Kamal Bahadur Shah with UML support, triggered disputes that eventually brought down the coalition. The budget could not be passed, leaving the province without an approved budget for the new fiscal year.
Although the new budget was passed on Tuesday, dissent within the UML has intensified. Another UML lawmaker, Dharmaraj Pathak, was also absent from the assembly sitting in which the budget was approved. Thapa was elected from Kanchanpur-1 (1), while Pathak entered the assembly through the proportional representation system.
Speaker Bhandari has not accepted Thapa’s resignation.
According to a UML leader from Kanchanpur, Thapa had asked parliamentary party leader Rajendra Singh Rawal for an opportunity to speak during the budget deliberations. His request was not granted, further fuelling his dissatisfaction.
Thapa had already been sharply critical of the budget. Pathak, who chairs the provincial assembly’s Social Development Committee, had also raised concerns about alleged irregularities in the budget from the outset and had voiced his objections on social media.
Bhandari said he did not wish to comment on the resignation for now. Thapa’s mobile phone was switched off, and he did not respond to repeated attempts to reach him. UML leaders said efforts were underway to persuade him to withdraw his resignation.
Before the budget was passed, Bhandari announced the formation of a seven-member parliamentary study committee to investigate questions and complaints raised during the budget discussions. He directed the committee to submit its report by November 6. A supplementary budget is to be introduced in the second week of November, based on the committee’s findings.
Finance Minister Chakra Bahadur Malla presented a budget of Rs37.696 billion for the current fiscal year. Of the total, Rs17.296 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditure, Rs20.327 billion for capital expenditure and Rs72.7 million for financial management.
However, officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the province’s actual available resources for the fiscal year amounted to only Rs33.13 billion, leaving a projected shortfall of about Rs4.57 billion.
Responding to questions raised during the budget debate, Malla acknowledged shortcomings in the budget but rejected the idea that he alone should be held responsible.
He said he had tried to prepare a better budget but faced pressure from multiple quarters, with different people pushing for their own priorities.