Butwal : Lumbini Chief Minister Shankar Pokharel has lost the majority. Suman Sharma Rayamajhi, who became the Minister of State from the Janata Samajwadi Party, resigned from the post on Friday.

The ruling Party CPN( UML) has 38 out of 83 MPs in the Lumbini Provincial assembly. With four JSP MPs in the government, there was a majority in favor of the government. But with the resignation of Minister of State Rayamajhi, there are only 41 MPs in favor of the government.

The government needs at least 42 MPs to reach a majority. In the Lumbini Provincial Assembly, 19 members of the Nepali Congress, 19 including the Speaker of the Maoist Center, three members of the Janata Samajwadi Party and one member of the Rastriya Janamorcha are against the government.

Opposition groups called for Pokhrel’s resignation on moral grounds as the government lost its majority. “With the resignation of one of the government ministers, the chief minister has lost his majority,” said Fakhruddin Khan, chief whip of the Nepali Congress.

Chief Whip of the CPN (MC) Tularam Gharti claimed that the Chief Minister had been re-appointed arbitrarily in collusion with the Province chief even though he had lost the majority on May 2.

“After realizing that he had lost the majority, he pretended to resign on May 2 and left the party. He was appointed as the Chief Minister by handing over the signatures of the Deputy Speaker and absentee MPs,” Gharti said. “He survived by cheating for two or three months. Now he has no choice but to resign. ‘