Sudurpaschim Province Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah has dismissed four ministers representing the CPN-UML, amid a deepening dispute over the provincial budget between the ruling coalition partners.

Those removed from the cabinet are Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Surendra Bahadur Pal, Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Hira Sarki, Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives Bir Bahadur Thapa, and Minister of State for Physical Infrastructure Development Nirmala Devi Saud.

The dispute between the Nepali Congress and the UML escalated after the UML rejected the budget introduced by the same government it was part of. UML lawmakers also registered an expenditure-cut motion in the provincial assembly. The UML parliamentary party has already decided to reject the budget.

The latest development has paved the way for a possible reorganisation of the Sudurpaschim provincial government under a new political arrangement. The Chief Minister’s Office said discussions on restructuring the government have already begun.

The dispute reached Kathmandu with only two days remaining for the provincial assembly to approve the budget. The Congress had summoned Chief Minister Shah to the capital for consultations over the budget impasse.

Shah arrived in Kathmandu on Monday and held talks with senior Congress leaders, including party president Gagan Thapa, vice president Bishwa Prakash Sharma and general secretary Pradeep Paudel. He briefed them on the budget deadlock and the growing rift with the UML.

UML lawmakers have accused the Congress-led government of preparing the budget unilaterally, while Shah has maintained that sufficient funds were allocated to ministries headed by UML ministers.