Amid protests and widespread criticism of the government decision to sack the managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising on Monday, the newly appointed chief of the public utility, Hitendra Dev Shakya, assumed office on Tuesday.

He has pledged to ensure reliable electricity to households as well as industrial consumers in the days ahead.

“Now, we should discuss the reliability of energy supply, not load-shedding,” he told journalists after assuming office. “Loadshedding is no longer an issue. Reliability of the supply is.”

On Monday evening, the Cabinet meeting sacked Ghising and replaced him with former managing director Shakya. Although some ministers immediately leaked the information to the media, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, told journalists that no such decision had been made.

But in under 24 hours of the decision, Gurung, amid a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, announced that the Cabinet meeting had sacked Ghising and appointed Shakya in his place.

The decision has stirred a political uproar with not only opposition parties, but also leaders from ruling parties strongly opposing the government’s move.

People also took to the Capital’s streets to protest Ghising’s dismissal.

Several leaders of the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the KP Sharma Oli-led government, have publicly criticised the decision. The issue has deepened internal divisions within the ruling alliance.

Congress leaders close to the party’s establishment faction seem to be in an awkward position.

“We have our representatives in the government, and some of our party’s senior leaders are also in the high-level political mechanism formed to facilitate governance. They might have thought carefully before the government made such a decision,” said Nepali Congress spokesperson Prakash Saran Mahat. “But given the country’s fluid political situation, the decision looks thoughtless and unnecessary. Whether the party will put pressure on the government to take back the decision is unclear.”

Following the government’s announcement, the Congress general secretaries duo—Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma—took to social media to criticise the move, arguing that the government was heading in the wrong direction.

From the Congress, party vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka, General Secretary Thapa, Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba and Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak are in the political mechanism.

Alongside them, senior Congress leader Shekhar Koirala, who leads the dissident faction in the party, also condemned the decision, saying that it was detrimental to the country’s progress.

While the Congress leaders oppose Ghising’s removal, UML vice-chair Yubaraj Gyawali said Ghising needed to be fairly evaluated, taking into view both positive and negative aspects of his tenure as the NEA chief. He suggested that the government may have had some compulsion to remove him, but criticised the timing of the decision.

“At a time when royalists are preparing to launch a movement against the [federal republic] system, it would have been better had the government avoided further agitating the public,” Gyawali said.

Gyawali also noted that there is little chance of the party committees discussing the government’s decision. He said matters within the government’s jurisdiction are not typically subjects of internal party discussions. He also expressed ignorance of any discussions within the party on Ghising’s removal.

“Our party’s central secretariat meeting was held on March 17, and there was no discussion about Ghising’s dismissal,” he said.

Meanwhile, UML Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali cited two reasons for Ghising’s dismissal: the electricity purchase agreement made with India without the prior approval of the government, and Ghising’s decision to cut power supply to various industrial firms despite repeated requests from the government not to do so. The government has accused Ghising of signing the agreement without prior approval.

He stated that while the defaulter industrial firms must pay for the electricity they used, it is also essential to ensure electricity supply for their continued operation. Despite requests from the ministry, Ghising, however, had disrupted power supply to some firms with long due payments.

“It is unacceptable for a government entity to defy government directives,” Pradeep Gyawali said.

He dismissed opposition from some Congress leaders as their individual opinions. He argued that as Ghising was dismissed on the proposal of a Congress minister, the party too naturally supported the government decision.

“A few leaders may have different opinions, but those are personal views,” Deputy General Secretary Gyawali said.

Following the Cabinet decision, anti-government protests erupted in different parts of Kathmandu on Tuesday. While the government faces widespread criticism, Prime Minister Oli has defended the move.

Oli remarked that some individuals were exaggerating the issue, likening their reaction to “making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Speaking at a function to unveil a book by Congress leader Sujata Koirala, at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar, Oli said: “They have made a mountain out of a sesame seed… They create unnecessary fuss.”

At the same event, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba reaffirmed his party’s full support for the Oli-headed government.

However, the issue appears to have caused division in the Congress.

When the proposal to remove Ghising was being discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Monday, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak, a leader close to Congress chief Deuba, had reportedly opposed the proposal.

“The home minister had reservations about dismissing Ghising from his position, given that his tenure was about to end in a few months,” said a close aide to the home minister.

Despite this, Ghising was dismissed at the insistence of Energy Minister Deepak Khadka, another Congress leader. Khadka and Ghising had long been at odds since the formation of the Oli-led government in July last year.

Meanwhile, Ghising has announced that he will challenge the government’s decision in court. “As soon as I receive the official letter, I will go to the court against the unlawful action," he told the Post on Monday.

Shakya had also moved the court when the then government removed him from the position and appointed Ghising in his place back in 2021. But a final decision on the case remains pending.

Ghising was appointed the executive director of the NEA for a second term on August 11, 2021. The tenure of an executive director is four years, meaning his term was set to expire on August 9.

Opposition parties have also hinted at their plans to raise this issue prominently in upcoming Parliament meetings.