The Janata Samajbadi Party has quit the Lumbini provincial government accusing Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara of not adhering to an agreement reached earlier.

Agriculture and Land Management Minister Bhandari Lal Ahir tendered his resignation on Sunday. Ahir said that he quit the post amid growing differences with the chief minister.

Ashok Yadav, chair of the party’s Lumbini chapter, said a meeting of the party on Thursday had decided to quit the government as the chief minister was reluctant to allocate two ministerial berths to the party as per a power-sharing deal. “The chief minister did not follow the agreement,” Yadav said. “We helped the government during a tough time but the chief minister ignored us.”

Mahara was appointed chief minister on April 5 with the backing of 48 lawmakers of the 87-member provincial assembly. Twenty-nine members of the CPN-UML, 10 from the Maoist Centre, four from the Nagarik Unmukti Party, three from Janata Samajbadi Party, one from CPN (Unified Socialist) and one other independent member supported Mahara. Earlier the ruling partners had decided to allocate two ministerial berths to the Janata Samajbadi Party.

On April 7, Chief Minister Mahara inducted Chet Narayan Acharya of the UML, Dipendra Pun Magar of the Maoist Centre, and Ahir of the Janata Samajbadi Party into his Cabinet as ministers without portfolios. Before expanding the Cabinet on Thursday, Acharya was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, Pun the Ministry of Health and Ahir the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Management.

Mahara formed an 11-member Cabinet to accommodate ministers from the ruling party in Lumbini, which has 10 ministries, including the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. However, the Janata Samajbadi Party was not given an additional ministry.

Besides chief ministership, Mahara also holds the Industry, Tourism and Urban Development portfolio. Earlier, there was an agreement on ministerial berths so that Maoists got three ministries including the post of chief minister and UML got five ministries. The chief minister increased the number of ministries after the Unmukti Party supported him. The party has demanded an additional ministry.

The number of ministerial portfolios in Lumbini will reach 14 if one minister is added for Nagarik Unmukti, Janata Samajbadi and Maoist Centre each.