Nepal: 4 Maoist Centre ministers relieved of Parliament membership

Kathmandu [Nepal], April 9 : Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist Center (CPN-MC) has relieved four sitting ministers from the post of lawmakers on Thursday.
The party took the decision after ministers' namely Top Bahadur Rayamajhi (Energy Minister) Lekhraj Bhatta (Industry Minister) and Prabhu Shah (Urban Development Minister) and Gaurishankar Chaudhary (Labor Minister) didn't step down after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's move of dissolving the lower house of Parliament in December last year despite party's decision.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agni Prasad Sapkota on Thursday's meeting read out notice issued by the party which stated that four sitting ministers have been relieved of their position.
However, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa is still a lawmaker of the party in the National Assembly. The CPN (Maoist Center) has not made any decision as of now whether to scrap his position as a lawmaker.
The four CPN (Maoist Center) leaders, however, can continue as ministers in the Oli-led cabinet for six more months. But, they should retain their post if they wish to continue more than that, according to existing laws.
Rayamajhi, Bhatta, Sah and Chaudhary did not return to the CPN (Maoist Center) even after the revival of their party in February this year. Instead, they decided to join the Oli-led CPN-UML, where they have been made central committee members.