An all-party meeting has been convened today to discuss the naming of Province 1. Even four years after the formation of the state parliament, the naming process has not been finalized yet. An all-party meeting has been convened today on behalf of the state government.

Leaders of five parties of the state will participate in the discussion to be held at the office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers in Biratnagar after 12 noon.

It is unlikely that the parties will agree on naming State 1 on the basis of multiple identities, geography or identity. However, Health Minister Jayaram Yadav of the state government said that the discussion would formally start from today’s meeting. Yadav of the Janata Samajwadi Party is also the coordinator of the coordination and negotiation committee formed by the government for naming the state.

Among the previous governments formed in Province 1, the government led by Sherdhan Rai had repeatedly discussed the issue of naming. The subsequent government of Bhim Prasad Acharya did not discuss the issue of naming.

Incumbent Chief Minister Rajendra Kumar Rai has been saying that the naming of the state will be completed as soon as he is appointed. However, the parties are not optimistic that the name issue will be resolved immediately.

According to the constitutional provision, a two-thirds majority is required in the state assembly to decide the nomination of a state. For which UML is decisive. There are 91 MPs in the state assembly, including 41 from the CPN-UML, 21 from the Congress, 15 from the UCPN (Maoist), 10 from the Unified Socialists, 3 from the JSP and 1 each from the RPP and the Federal Democratic Forum.

The Maoist center insists on naming the provinces on the basis of identity. Congress and UML have been emphasizing on the need to keep Kirant Koshi or Kirant Everest on the basis of multiple identities.

Even though the Unified Socialists have been holding the view that nomination should be done on the basis of identity, no formal decision has been taken yet. The Socialist, Democratic Forum has also been saying that identity should be the basis while RPP has been giving importance to naming on the basis of geography.