After the majority of the Province 1 assembly members of the Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Nepal-led faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party ousted him as the parliamentary party leader on Wednesday evening Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai has suspended 15 of them for three months.

On Monday, Rai, an ally of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, had sought clarification from 19 members of the Dahal-Nepal faction who had signed a no-confidence motion registered at the Assembly secretariat on Sunday.

“The process of taking action against the Provincial Assembly members who defied the party statute has begun with the suspension of a number of them,” Rai, the chief minister, told the Post over the phone. “They should have first registered the motion at the provincial assembly party but they directly registered it at the assembly’s secretariat which is unlawful.”

Rai said the members have started to say that their signatures were misused and few of them have already given statements withdrawing their support.

Those suspended for going against the party’s statute includes Bhim Acharya, Indra Bahadur Aangbo, Jivan Ghimire, Bijay Kumar Bishwas, Tanka Aangbuhang, Rajendra Rai, Mohan Kumar Khadka, Lila Ballav Adhikari, Lachhuman Tiwari, Kul Prasad Samba, Yashoda Adhikari, Dhirendra Sharma, Kushum Shrestha, Sarita Thapa and Sabitri Kumari Regmi.

The meeting of the members of the provincial assembly party representing the Dahal-Nepal faction had decided to elect Standing Committee member Bhim Acharya as the leader of the parliamentary party ousting the previous leader Rai.

According to members of the Province 1 Assembly, the meeting of the parliamentary party in which 40 members were present has elected party’s Standing Committee member Bhim Acharya as the new parliamentary party leader.

“We have elected Bhim Acharya as our parliamentary party leader suspending Sherdhan Rai,” said Indra Aangbo, who was a minister in Rai's cabinet. “Both the sides are trying to attract members of the provincial assembly.”

According to Aangbo, of the 37 assembly members who had signed the no-confidence motion Kala Ghale has jumped to Rai’s camp while two members of Rai's camp have joined them.

Rai had defeated Acharya in the vote to elect the provincial assembly party leader held three years ago by two votes with one vote invalid.

Of the 93 members in the Province 1 assembly the Nepal Communist Party has 67 seats.

This is the second instance of repercussions felt in the provincial assemblies after Oli’s dissolution of the House on December 20 which sent the ruling party into turmoil.

On December 26 the provincial assembly party meeting of the Dahal-Nepal faction of the Bagmati Province had decided to oust Chief Minister Dormani Poudel as the parliamentary party leader and had elected Asta Laxmi Shakya as the new leader.

Poudel has sought clarification from 30 members of the provincial assembly who were involved in registering the no-confidence motion against him on December 25.

“The leaders have responded to the clarification saying that there was no meaning of such clarification because Poudel was already ousted by the provincial assembly party and the no-confidence motion had been registered at the assembly secretariat,” said Ratna Dhakal, a member of the assembly.