Nepal: Another ally walks out of Prachanda-led government ahead of vote of confidence

Kathmandu [Nepal], July 5 (ANI): The Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) in Nepal, another ally of the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda has deserted him ahead of the vote of confidence scheduled for next week.
The Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajbadi Party on Friday evening informed the Prime Minister of the withdrawal of the support and two ministers on board the cabinet also tendered resignation.
"We would like to inform you (prime minister) that the support given to the government formed under your leadership has been withdrawn with effect from today as per the decision of the party meeting held on Friday," said Rai in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Dahal, who is also parliamentary party leader of the JSP.
Following the submission of the letter to the Prime Minister, Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Yadav, Minister for Forest and Environment Nawal Kishor Sah Sudi, and State Minister for Health Hasina Khan of the party also tendered their resignations.
The newly formed JSP has seven members in the House of Representatives.
With major allies already gone, the minority government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is set to face the vote of confidence on July 12 now has a total of 62 votes in his favor.
The Maoist Center which Dahal himself leads has 32, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has 20 and the CPN-Unified Socialist has 10 seats.
Earlier on Wednesday (July 3), the key ally of the government- CPN-UML (Unified Marxist Leninist) had walked out of government forging an alliance with Nepali Congress. Dahal on March 4 had dumped Nepali Congress to form a government in support of the CPN-UML.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party embroiled in conflict and controversy has decided to continue over the government followed by CPN-US, the splinter party from the CPN-UML.
Meanwhile, Dahal has decided to seek a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on July 12. The prime minister sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat asking the latter to make arrangements for the vote. (ANI)