The Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajbadi Party on Wednesday pulled out of the Lumbini provincial government.

Minister for Agriculture and Land Management Bhandari Lal Ahir handed over his resignation to Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara.

The party has decided to switch to the UML-Nepali Congress alliance.

JSP General Secretary Mohammad Istiyak Rai said the party quit the government as per the decision to support the new alliance.

Ahir was inducted into the Cabinet on April 7 and assigned the agriculture and land management portfolio on April 18. On April 21, Ahir, then a leader of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, resigned, citing disagreements with Chief Minister Mahara. However, the resignation was not officially accepted by the chief minister.

On May 6, Ahir re-assumed the office after a faction led by the party’s federal council chair Rai applied to register a new party at the Election Commission.

Ahir, who was elected from Banke-2 (A), is the provincial assembly leader of the party and agriculture minister in the recent three governments.

The party has three provincial assembly seats.

On July 4, CPN-UML pulled out from the Lumbini government following a change in the coalition at the centre. Likewise, five UML ministers in the government tendered their resignations.