Indra Bahadur Baniya Appointed Chief Minister of Bagmati Province

Indra Bahadur Baniya has been appointed as the new Chief Minister of Bagmati Province following the resignation of Bahadur Singh Lama. Baniya secured support from 64 members of the provincial assembly—37 from Nepali Congress and 27 from CPN-UML—and officially staked his claim for the post on Monday.

The new eight-member Council of Ministers was formed on Tuesday, comprising six ministers from UML and two from Congress. Except for one, all ministers are new to the cabinet.

Table of Contents

New Ministerial Appointments:

From CPN-UML:

Madhusudan Paudel – Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development
Dinesh Chandra Devkota – Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development
Jayaram Thapa – Minister for Labor, Employment, and Transport
Bharat Bahadur KC – Minister for Forests and Environment
Kiran Thapa – Minister for Health
Bindu Shrestha – Minister for Industry, Commerce, Land, and Administration

From Nepali Congress:

Join Us For Instant News

Krishna Kumar Tamang – Minister for Drinking Water, Energy, and Irrigation
Shivraj Adhikari – Minister without portfolio

Chief Minister Baniya has kept five out of the seven ministries allocated to Congress under his direct supervision.

Among the newly appointed ministers, only Kiran Thapa has previously served as the Health Minister.

Political Background:

Baniya is the sixth Chief Minister of Bagmati Province, following Dormani Poudel, Astalaxmi Shakya, Rajendra Prasad Pandey, Shalikram Jamkattel, and Bahadur Singh Lama.

Lama resigned on Sunday after losing the leadership of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party. Prior to that, 21 members led by Baniya had filed a vote of no confidence against Lama. In the leadership election held last Wednesday, Baniya received 22 votes while Lama received 14.

This is not the first time the two have faced off—Baniya and Lama also contested the Nepali Congress parliamentary leadership election on December 28, 2022 (13 Poush 2079 BS), where Baniya secured 16 votes and Lama got 21. Currently, the Nepali Congress holds 37 seats in the Bagmati Provincial Assembly.

Following Lama’s resignation, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota called for the formation of a new government under Article 168 (2) of the Constitution by a member who can secure majority support from two or more parties represented in the Provincial Assembly.

Who Is Indra Bahadur Baniya?

Indra Bahadur Baniya was born on August 31, 1970 (15 Bhadra 2027 BS) in Harnamadi, Ward 18 of Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City. He has been elected to the Provincial Assembly for the second time from a region in Makwanpur heavily populated by the Chepang and Tamang communities.

Baniya entered politics in 1987 (2044 BS) through the Nepal Student Union and later became active in the Tarun Dal. He has served as a General Convention delegate, Central Committee member, and was elected as the President of Nepali Congress Makwanpur in 2016 (2073 BS).

In 2008 (2064 BS), he ran for the Constituent Assembly election from Makwanpur-1 but lost to the Maoists. However, he was elected in the second Constituent Assembly in 2013 (2070 BS). In 2017 (2074 BS), he became the State Minister for Home Affairs and was also elected as a Provincial Assembly member from Makwanpur 2(2). He was unanimously elected as the Congress Parliamentary Party leader then and was re-elected in 2022 (2079 BS) from the same constituency.

Aside from politics, Baniya is also a construction entrepreneur.