Minister for Information and Communications Mohan Bahadur Basnet has said that President Bidya Devi Bhandari will endorse the three names recommended by the government for National Assembly.

He said so while speaking at a programme organised at the Reporters’ Club in the Capital on Tuesday.

Minister Basnet said that the three names—Gopal Basnet, Krishna Paudel and Chandani Joshi—have already been sent to President Bidya Devi Bhandari for approval and will be endorsed soon.

Asserting that the incumbent government is in the same state like it was in the past, he said, “The government will not be caretaker until it announces resignation. The government will not be caretaker until the Prime Minister officially steps down.”

Saying that the President cannot turn down the PM’s recommendation, Minister Basent said, “If the President refuses to endorse the PM’s recommendation, it will raise a question over the Cabinet system. I believe that the President will endorse the names.”

He criticised the remarks made by CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli among other leaders that the new government will reconsider the decisions made by the incumbent government.

Moreover, he assured that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will resign from his post soon.

“We want to leave the government as soon as possible, the country should not wait for long for the resignation of the Prime Minister,” he said.

He, however, said that his party is not in favour of inviting constitutional vacuum in the country.