Bhandari Lal Ahir on Monday reassumed his role as Minister for Agriculture and Land Management, marking his return to the provincial ministry just 15 days after he resigned from the position.

On April 21, Ahir, then affiliated with the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, resigned citing disagreements with Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara. However, the resignation was not officially accepted by the chief minister.

The party had quit the government accusing the chief minister of not heeding an earlier agreement to allocate two ministerial berths.

Ahir was inducted into the Cabinet on April 7 and assigned the agriculture and land management portfolio on April 18.

Ahir, who was elected from Banke-2 (A), reassumed the office after a faction led by the party’s federal council chair Ashok Rai applied to register a new party at the Election Commission on Sunday.

The split follows a long-standing discontent in the party led by Upendra Yadav, who is deputy prime minister and minister for health and population in the federal government.

“I have taken charge as a minister from the newly formed party led by Ashok Rai,” said Minister Ahir. “In Banke alone, there are three lawmakers from our party and we all stand united.”