Kathmandu: A group of protesters have vandalized the vehicle of Shankar Pokharel, the Chief Minister of Province 5 in Butwal.
The agitators pelted stones at Chief Minister Pokharel’s vehicle in Butwal’s Rajmarg Chauraha as a protest against the provincial government’s decision to propose the permanent headquarters as Dang.
Chief Minister Pokharel was returning to Butwal from Kathmandu after meeting Nepal Communist Party chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and other senior leaders following street protests prompted by the decision to propose the province’s permanent capital to Bhalubang in Dang.
The vehicle carrying Chief Minister Pokharel and another convoy have suffered damages.
Nepali Congress and other businessmen have been intensifying street protests for days demanding that Butwal be made the permanent capital of Province 5.
Butwal of Rupandehi district is currently the temporary capital of Province 5.
The local committee of the main opposition party has spearheaded the protest against the decision to shift the capital from Butwal to Dang.
The main federal governing NCP has stood in favor of settling Bhalubang in Dang Deukhari as the permanent capital of Province 5 whose name has also been proposed as Lumbini.
The provincial government, also led by NCP, decided to propose the new name and permanent capital after receiving an instruction from NCP co chairs Oli and Prachanda to settle dang as the permanent capital and Lumbini as the name of the province.
However, Bishnu Paudel of the NCP, who had also made Butwal the capital city of the province a key agenda during the last election, is reportedly against the provincial government’s decision.
Pokharel had promised to set up the provincial capital in Dang from where he was elected as provincial legislature and became the chief minister.
