Speaker of the House of Representative Tara Nath Ranabhat has resigned from his post.

Ranabhat’s announced to resign from the post after a meeting with senior leaders of the seven-party alliance (SPA) Wednesday afternoon.

Nepali Congress (NC) president and prime minister designate Girija Prasad Koirala, NC (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar were present at the meeting.

Issuing a statement, Ranabhat said he resigned from the post in order to pave way for fresh election of the speaker. “In the changed scenario after the instatement of the House of Representatives by His Majesty King, I have resigned from my post so that new the parliament could be able to elect the speaker in accordance with the fresh mandate,” he said.

His resignation comes two days before the first session of the reinstated parliament. The SPA is said to have been pressuring him to resign from the post.

Meanwhile, SPA sources said UML leader and former law minister Subash Nemwang is set to be elected as the new speaker of the House. The SPA leadership has already reached an agreement on this, the source added. nepalnews.com mk/by Apr 26 06