The ripples of the change in the power equation in Kathmandu are being felt in provinces. On Friday, CPN (Maoist Centre) decided to withdraw its support and also pulled out of the UML-led Gandaki provincial government, making a new government necessary there.

In Bagmati, the UML withdrew from the government as Chief Minister Shalikram Jamkattel of the Maoist Centre got the trust vote for the second time on Friday.

As the new ruling coalition at the Centre is preparing for a package deal on sharing of portfolios in Singha Durbar and provincial governments, discussions have started at the provincial level to change the power equation.

In Gandaki, UML chair KP Sharma Oli’s close aide Khagaraj Adhikari must secure the assembly’s confidence within a month or resign as the chief minister. With 22 seats in the 60-strong provincial assembly, Adhikari was appointed the chief minister with the backing of the Maoist Centre and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party on January 9. The provincial government had four ministers from the UML including the chief minister, two from the Maoist Centre and one from the RPP.

With 27 seats in the assembly, the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party Surendra Pandey is preparing to lead the provincial government although the Maoist Centre is also laying claim to government leadership for the first half term.

“Now, the process of change in the provincial government has started with our parliamentary party’s decision to withdraw support to the government,” said Hari Chuman, outgoing minister and parliamentary party leader of the Maoist Centre. “We, the two ministers of our party, have resigned.”

Now the Adhikari-led government has fallen into minority.

Appointing ministers is taking time not only in Kathmandu but also the provinces.

“I wanted to fill the Cabinet right away, but I think it may take a few days,” Jamkattel told the Post after securing the trust vote on Friday.

Maoist leaders of the province claimed that Prime Minister Dahal and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba have told the provincial leaders that the Maoist Centre will lead the first half term and the Congress the second half.

With the major parties in the coalition encouraged by the recent understanding among the top leaders to rule the provinces by turns, the provincial committees of the parties have started discussions to topple the UML-led governments and change the coalitions in places where the Congress, the Maoist Centre and the Janata Samajbadi Party lead.

On Tuesday, Dahal said at a function in Gorkha that all major parties will take turns to lead the provincial governments.

“We are still discussing provincial governments and have yet to arrive at a conclusion,” said Purna Bahadur Khadka, the Congress vice president and a key negotiator. “It’s obvious that all the provincial governments will be led by major parties of the coalition by turns.”

The previous seven-party coalition had shared four provincial governments: Koshi, Gandaki, Lumbini and Sudur Paschim going to the UML, Bagmati and Karnali led by the Maoist Centre, and the Janata Samajbadi Party steering the Madhesh Province.

Although Sudurpaschim was allocated to the UML, the party could not form government there after the Nagarik Unmukti Party refused to give a vote of confidence. Now a Congress-led government has been installed with the support of the Maoist Centre, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Nagarik Unmukti Party.

In Lumbini Province, major parties in the assembly—the Maoist Centre, the Nagarik Unmukti, the Janata Samajbadi and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party—have started discussions to withdraw their support to the government led by the UML’s Lilanath Giri. Giri received a vote of confidence from all these parties and independent assembly members on January 19.

The process of forming a new government will begin once the Maoist Centre withdraws its support to the Giri government.

In Koshi, among the 93 provincial assembly members, the UML has 40, the Congress has 29, the Maoist Centre 13, the RPP 6, the Unified Socialist four and the Janata Samajbadi has one member.

The two sets of parties there are in a deadlock: the coalition of the UML and the RPP has 46 seats, while the other that includes the Congress, the Maoist Centre, the Unified Socialist and the JSP, also has 46 seats. In case of a tie, the vote of the Speaker, who was elected from the Maoist party, will be decisive.

“We are yet to start discussions on changing the government given the magic number we have in the provincial assembly,” said Indra Aangbo, the Maoist Centre parliamentary party leader. “Discussions will begin soon.”

The CK Raut-led Janamat Party, the Mahantha Thakur-led Loktantrik Samajbadi and the Ranjita Shrestha-led Nagarik Unmukti have formed a working alliance in an attempt to bargain for a bigger share of government. However, Shrestha said her party will not join any government until her husband Resham Chaudhary is not released from prison. Chaudhary is doing time at Dillibazar jail after he was convicted in the Tikapur incident of 2015.

“The parties in the working alliance will have our support but we won’t join any government until our demands are met,” Shrestha told the Post.

In Madhesh Province too, the Janamat Party is laying claim to government leadership. Party chair CK Raut has already told the top leaders of the 10-party coalition that his party should get the chief minister of Madhesh as the Janata Samajbadi got the Vice President.

JSP leader Ramsahay Prasad Yadav has been appointed the country’s Vice President.

The 107-strong provincial assembly includes 24 members of UML, 22 of Congress, 19 of JSP, 13 of Janamat, and nine each of the LSP and Maoist Centre. Likewise, there are seven members from the Unified Socialist and one each from the RPP, the Sanghiya Samajbadi and the Nagarik Unmukti, besides one independent member.

According to leaders, the UML’s ministers will be replaced by Congress members.

The Maoist Centre’s Ram Kumar Sharma-led Karnali government will incorporate the Congress, the largest party in the province. In the 40-strong provincial assembly, the Congress has 14 seats, the Maoist Centre 13, the UML 10, while there are one each held by the Unified Socialist, the RPP and independent candidates.

“We are waiting for instructions from the top leaders of our coalition,” said Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, parliamentary party leader of the Congress in Karnali Province and the former chief minister.