WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 153 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.0 C 16.6 C Wednesday, July 21, 2021 | 06-04-2078 Bhairahawa Jumla Deuba struggles to expand Cabinet, more so by issues in his own party The prime minister has to satisfy the rival faction of his party. The Maoist Centre and the Janata Samjabadi are his key partners and he can’t ignore the Nepal group either. ANIL GIRI General Secretary Shashanka Koirala, KATHMANDU, JULY 20 former vice-president Prakash Man Singh and senior leader Sujata Koirala As Prime Minister Sher Bahadur vying for the post. Deuba begins consultations to expand It has also demanded three addi- his five-member Cabinet, he faces an tional ministerial portfolios. uphill task with demands and com- “But Deuba has made it clear that it plexities of the constituencies that is not possible and the Poudel faction supported him during the confidence will get just two portfolios in the vote in Parliament on Sunday. Cabinet,” said a Nepali Congress lead- The 165 lawmakers that voted for er close to Deuba on condition of ano- him belong to a disparate group. nymity. “One of the major reasons Besides the Nepali Congress, law- behind the delay in Cabinet formation makers from the Communist Party of is dynamics inside the Nepali Nepal (Maoist Centre), the two factions Congress.” of the Janata Samajbadi Party that has Deuba has also assured one Cabinet more or less split, a section of the main portfolio to another camp of the party opposition CPN-UML, and Rastriya led by former general secretary Janamorcha supported Deuba. Krishna Prasad Sitaula, according to According to leaders close to Deuba, the leader. The constitution allows POST PHOTO: MADHAV ARYAL he wants representation of all only 25 Cabinet ministers. Farmers prepare the field for rice transplantation at Chidipani Agahakhola in Mathagadhi Rural Municipality of Palpa on Tuesday following the parties that stood by him. Initially, there were talks among the summer paddy harvest. The late plantation season in the hill district will last another week. “Discussions are going on alliance partners to appoint ministers with all the parties who support- at the one Cabinet position for every 10 ed us,” Purna Bahadur Khadka, parliamentarians ratio but as the num- a Congress general secretary, ber of aspirants grew, it was changed told the Post. to one for eight, according to the But all the parties have their Congress leaders the Post talked to. Janata Samajbadi’s birth was accidental and own complexities including “Now the Janata Samajbadi is Deuba’s own Nepali Congress. saying one minister for six parliamen- The rival faction of the party, tarians and this is another reason for it may meet with an accident of split led by Ram Chandra Poudel, has the delay in Cabinet expansion,” the demanded at least one deputy Congress leader close to Deuba said. prime minister with the other >> Continued on page 2 Factions led by Upendra Yadav and Mahantha Thakur have drifted apart and reconciliation between them is unlikely in the current circumstances, observers say. Samajbadi Party, Oli became the cause of a rift in the party. In May, the con- flict became more apparent. The Mahantha Thakur-Rajendra Mahato faction, which came from the Rastriya Janata Party, decided to stand by Oli. The Upendra Yadav- Baburam Bhattarai faction, which came from the Samajbadi Party Nepal, announced its support to the Nepali Congress-led alliance. Leaders of the Thakur-Mahato fac- tion even joined the Oli government, only to have their appointments scrapped by the Supreme Court in less than two weeks. When Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba decided to go for a floor test on POST PHOTO: ANGAD DHAKAL Sunday, many thought the Thakur- Mahantha Thakur’s group surprised observers by deciding to vote for Deuba on Sunday. Mahato faction might not vote for the Congress leader. But while addressing TIKA R PRADHAN and even party insiders said everyone the House ahead of the vote, Thakur KATHMANDU, JULY 20 had egos, management of which was a announced that his faction would vote tough task. Its unity process could for Deuba. And it did, making many When the Janata Samajbadi Party was never pick up pace, as it was believed wonder if Deuba could be the cause of born out of a sudden midnight merger to be an outcome of a reactive move unity in the party. between the Samajbadi Party Nepal rather than the one guided by a shared But it does not look like both fac- and the Rastriya Janata Party in April agenda. The merger was actually tions will bury their hatchets anytime last year, many within the unified prompted by a sudden ordinance, soon, as differences have grown. force themselves were not optimistic aimed at easing party splits, intro- “They [the Thakur-Mahato] faction about its future. duced by then prime minister KP must accept their mistakes and There were too many leaders with Sharma Oli. self-criticise,” Yadav told the Post. too many aspirations, and analysts A year after the birth of the Janata >> Continued on page 2 Centres run out of jabs once again as recipients are those other than from target groups Health workers say they are threatened and pressured to administer single-shot J&J jabs to those close to political leaders and other influential people. ARJUN POUDEL KATHMANDU, JULY 20 When 52-year-old Jaya Bahadur Tamang went to an urban health clinic in Kageshwari-Manohara Municipality on Tuesday to be inocu- lated with the Covid-19 vaccine, he was told the clinic had run out of vac- cines and the immunisation pro- gramme had been suspended. “I came here to get the vaccine dur- ing my lunch break but health work- ers told me that all vaccines were administered on Monday,” Tamang, a labourer who hails from Barhabise, Sindhupalchok, told the Post. Gopal Kuikel and his wife Manju, both 50 and residents of Kageshwari- POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI Manohara Municipality, too went to a Many from the prioritised group said they had to return without being vaccinated. nearby health facility to be vaccinated on Tuesday. wait for a few days for the Vero Cell migrant workers, and disabled among But they too were told that the vaccine to arrive and they would get others in Kathmandu Valley on Johnson & Johnson vaccine supplied their jabs. The Ministry of Health and Monday and the vaccination cam- by the Health Office, Kathmandu had Population began administering the paign was scheduled to continue till already been administered. single-shot Johnson & Johnson vac- Wednesday. Health workers advised them to cine to those between 50 and 54 years, >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Centres run ... Covid-19 risk >> Continued from page 1 The ministry had earlier decided to roll out the Johnson & Johnson vac- cine from last Thursday but authori- ties later delayed the rollout so that increases in Gorkha newly-appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba could inaugurate the latest drive, an official at the Health Ministry said on condition of ano- nymity. as prohibitory However, those in the target groups have not been able to get jabs because health workers have been under pres- sure from political leaders and other influential people to provide jabs to orders are relaxed those close to them. “What can we do, when health work- ers are pressured and threatened to Collective paddy transplantation and local festivals have inoculate people other than those in priority groups?” Laxmi Koirala, contributed to the spread of the virus in the community. health coordinator of the Kageshwari- Manohara Municipality told the Post. HARIRAM UPRETI offices and financial institutions. “I am also abused and threatened by GORKHA, JULY 20 Health workers say that the crowd- various groups to provide vaccines, ing of public offices by service seekers but how can I arrange when we The risk of Covid-19 infection has at the end of the fiscal year in the received only enough doses for the been on the rise in several places of second week of July also contributed priority population in our Gorkha for the past two weeks since to the spread of the virus. Many municipality?” the district administration eased pro- employees of government offices and The Health Office, Kathmandu hibitory orders. financial institutions have been found had supplied 4,000 doses of the Social gatherings and collective infected with the disease. Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the paddy transplantation works have fur- Seven employees of Dharche Rural municipality. ther worsened the situation, health Municipality and eight employees at POST PHOTO: KESHAV THAPA If the jabs were given to only those workers say. the Bhachchek branch of Rastriya A worker cleans the premises of Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur on Tuesday. in the target groups they would have Eighteen people of Chhapthok Banijya Bank in Ajirkot Rural been sufficient, according to the office. Hatiya settlement in Shahid Lakhan Municipality tested positive for the “I am getting information from Rural Municipality-8 had undergone coronavirus in the past two weeks. many places that vaccines were given antigen testing on Saturday. Of them, “There was a huge flow of service to those outside the target groups and 15 tested positive. seekers at the bank in the last week of there have been vaccine shortages,” Similarly, 25 out of 31 villagers who the fiscal year, increasing the risk of Deuba struggles to expand Cabinet, more Badri Bahadur Khadka, chief of the underwent antigen testing tested posi- Covid-19 spread,” said Suresh Dawadi, Health Office, Kathmandu told the tive for the virus on July 15.