Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda has won a parliamentary vote of confidence amid protests by the opposition. The opposition is demanding a parliamentary probe into allegations that his home minister illegally took money from several companies before he entered politics.
Dahal is a former Maoist rebel chief in the Himalayan nation sandwiched between China and India. He formed a coalition cabinet in March with the support of the Communist Party (CPN-UML) and several smaller parties.
A fresh vote of confidence became necessary after a junior partner in the coalition withdrew support following a split.
Parliament Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire said Dahal won 157 votes, exceeding the minimum 138 required, in the 275-member parliament in Monday’s voting. The entire opposition, barring one member, did not participate in the voting process. “As the number is the majority of all members of parliament, I declare the motion of confidence tabled by the prime minister as passed,” Ghimire told the parliament as the opposition Nepali Congress party protested and shouted slogans.
The main opposition Nepali Congress has said Dahal must set up a parliamentary panel to probe allegations against the Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lamichhane. The allegations are that Lamichhane illegally took large sums of money from a number of cooperative companies while being a television show presenter before joining politics. The cooperative companies are formed and run by small groups of people.
Lamichhane, who is in charge of the home ministry, has denied the charges.
Dahal, who still goes by his war nom de guerre ‘Prachanda’, meaning fierce, led a decade-long insurgency from 1996 which caused 17,000 deaths. After that, he joined mainstream politics under a 2006 peace deal overseen by the United Nations. He is serving a third time as prime minister, although he did not complete the full five-year term during previous stints.
Nepal has had 13 governments since it abolished its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.
With inputs from Reuters
