The ruling parties have come closer to forming a new government in Madhesh Province, replacing the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-Nepal)-led administration.

Madhesh Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav is taking a vote of confidence from the Provincial Assembly on Wednesday after the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew their support for the incumbent government. The Nepali Congress and the JSP-Nepal are scrambling to ensure that Yadav wins the vote of trust with the support of the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) and CPN (Unified Socialist).

Of them, the Unified Socialist is in the federal ruling coalition with the Maoist Centre and the UML, among others.

On Thursday, Janamat Party chair CK Raut announced that five parties, including the UML, the Maoist Centre, the LSP, and the Unified Socialist, would form the government under his party's leadership. However, the LSP and the Unified Socialist were quick to rubbish the claim, saying they have yet to agree to form a Janamat-led government.

In the meantime, the participation of the Unified Socialist chair Madhav Nepal in the meeting of the opposition leaders had added to the suspicion. On Thursday, Nepal attended a meeting called by Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba in his residence, attended by JSP-Nepal chair Upendra Yadav and LSP chair Mahanta Thakur.

However, a meeting of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who also chairs the Maoist Centre, UML chair KP Sharma Oli and Nepal on Friday reportedly cleared the confusion and agreed in principle to give continuity to the ruling alliance in the provinces as well.

“The three leaders discussed complexities seen in the ruling alliance, mainly at the provincial level,” Jagannath Khatiwada, the Unified Socialist spokesperson, told the Post. “The discussion was positive. The leaders have agreed to keep the alliance intact even in the provinces.”

According to leaders, Dahal and Oli had questioned Nepal's meeting with the opposition leaders. In response, Nepal also wanted to know why Dahal and Oli didn’t consult him before making major decisions. He also wanted the UML’s participation in the Sudurpaschim government led by his party and his party’s induction into the Koshi government.

Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Dirgha Sodari of the Unified Socialist has failed to give his Cabinet a full shape as the UML hasn’t recommended any ministers from the party even though he won the trust vote two weeks ago.

“The meeting was positive in narrowing down the differences,” Rajendra Gautam, the UML’s publicity department chief, told the Post. “I think all the problems existing at the federal and provincial levels will be sorted out soon. There is no other way."

Ruling party leaders say their party will be together in forming a new government in Madhesh. Talking to the Post, Saroj Kumar Yadav, the UML’s chief whip in the Madhesh Provincial Assembly, said the chief minister’s vote of trust motion will be rejected.

“We are in formal and informal dialogues. It is clear that the Unified Socialist will join us to form a new government in Madhesh,” he told the Post. Mahesh Prasad Yadav of Janamat Party is most likely to be the chief minister.

The UML, with 24 seats excluding the Speaker, is the largest party in the 107-strong provincial assembly. Similarly, Janamat Party has 13 and the Maoist Centre has 9 members. Support of the Unified Socialist, which has 7 seats, will leave the alliance one seat short of the magic number 54 to form the government. They count on the support of the Nagarik Unmukti Party with a seat even if the LSP stays away.

The Janamat Party gave its vote of confidence to Dahal in the federal parliament on May 20 on the condition that it would get to lead the Madhesh government.

“There is no doubt that a new government will be formed next week,” Rahabir Ansari, a Maoist Centre provincial lawmaker, told the Post.

The JSP-Nepal-led government remained intact even after the formation of the new ruling coalition at the federal level, as the UML acted as a rescuer when the Congress withdrew its support. On April 16, Chief Minister Yadav had 61 votes in his favour. Voting for Yadav were provincial assembly members of the JSP-Nepal, the UML, the Maoist Centre (9), the CPN (Unified Socialist) (7), and independent lawmakers.

The Nepali Congress (22), the Janamat Party (13) and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (9) voted against him. However, the split in JSP-Nepal, led it to pull out of the Dahal government. Its ripples were seen in the province.

The Unified Socialist is still in the JSP-Nepal-led government in Madhesh. Govind Bahadur Neupane, a Unified Socialist assembly member who is a minister in the provincial government, said they haven’t yet decided whether to quit.

“We are in a different alliance in Madhesh than at the federal level. I am for the continuation of this alliance,” he told the Post. “However, we will oblige by any decision the party makes. It is possible that we will need to quit and support a new government.”