Nagarik Unmukti Party chair Ranjita Shrestha on Friday recommended Sudurpaschim Assembly Speaker to suspend the party’s Sudurspaschim assembly member Ghanashyam Chaudhary for three months.

Shrestha wrote to Sudurpaschim Assembly Speaker Bhim Bahadur Bhandari, requesting for the action saying that she made the recommendation as per the party’s central committee decision to this effect.

On Monday, another party leader Indira Giri was dismissed from her position by Speaker Bhandari on Shrestha’s request.

Giri, who was elected to the provincial assembly under the proportional representation quota, has been relieved of her duties as per the party’s April 2 request.

Political uncertainty continues in Sudurpaschim due to a longstanding dispute between the Nagarik Unmukti Party chair Shrestha and her husband Reshamlal Chaudhary on whether to support the provincial government led by Kamal Bahadur Shah.

Of the seven Nagarik Unmukti members in the provincial assembly, five including Giri and Chaudhary are close to party leader Reshamlal Chaudhary, who is in favour of supporting the incumbent Congress-led government in the province.

The two members considered close to party chair Shrestha are against Shah’s government. The Nagarik Unmukti Party, established in 2022, made a mark in politics following the elections held later that year.

In the 53-member assembly, the Congress has 19 members, the Maoist Centre has 10, the UML 9, the Nagarik Unmukti Party 7, the Unified Socialist has three, and the RPP has one, and one member is independent. Any party claiming the government’s leadership must secure the backing of at least 27 assembly members.