All six ministers from the CPN-UML in the Bagmati provincial government have resigned en masse, following the collapse of the power-sharing deal between the Nepali Congress and the UML.

The UML decided to withdraw from the provincial government as parties began preparing for a new political alignment.

UML parliamentary party leader Jagannath Khatiwada said the ministers submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniya and formally notified the chief minister of their decision to withdraw support.

The ministers stepping down are Bindu Shrestha, minister for industry, commerce, land and administration; Dinesh Chandra Devkota, minister for physical infrastructure development; Kiran Thapa, minister for health; Bharat Bahadur KC, minister for forests and environment; Madhusudan Poudel, minister for agriculture and livestock development; and Jayaram Thapa, minister for labour, employment and transport.

Former chief minister and Nepali Communist Party leader Shalikram Jamkattel said his party would insist on leading any new coalition if the existing coalition collapsed.

Although the 110-member assembly in Bagmati currently has six vacant seats, leaving 104 serving lawmakers, the Congress and the NCP together would comfortably exceed the 53-seat majority threshold. A UML-NCP coalition, however, would require support from smaller parties such as the Rastriya Prajatantra Party or Hamro Nepali Party.