Kathmandu, 9 May. A meeting of top leaders of the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) has decided not to issue whips to its lawmakers in a vote of confidence in the government to be held on Monday. A meeting held at the residence of party leader Baburam Bhattarai decided to leave the lawmakers free to vote for or against the vote of confidence, said leader Rajendra Shrestha.

The meeting was held on Sunday morning after JSP president Mahanta Thakur and senior leader Rajendra Mahato met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba. In a meeting with Prime Minister Oli, they said that if they gave a vote of confidence to the government, the party would split.

During the meeting with Deuba, Thakur and Mahato had replied that they would not vote for Oli but would not support the next government. However, the meeting of the top leaders has given the right to vote for and against the parliamentarians.

Prime Minister Oli is taking a vote of confidence on Monday. UML has 121 MPs in the parliament. A vote of confidence requires 136 votes. Therefore, Oli still lacks 15 MPs. However, UML MPs from Madhav Kumar Nepal’s group are preparing to resign en masse. Nepai’s lawmakers resigned, but not all lawmakers voted for Oli. JSP currently has 32 MPs. Among them, Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav are in favor of a new alliance. Opposition Congress and Maoists have already decided to vote in the opposition.