By Our Reporter
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has finally expanded the Council of Ministers, inducting one new Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and new 10 ministers.
After holding marathon meetings for weeks, the Prime Minister succeeded to expand his Cabinet but only partially on Friday (March 28).
However, the expansion remained incomplete after NC did not provide the names of four ministers and the Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal did not name one.
With the expansion of Friday, seven of the 10 ruling coalition parties have their representatives in the Dahal-led government.
In the expanded Cabinet, Nepali Congress vice president Purna Bahadur Khadka has been given the responsibility of the Deputy Prime Minister with the portfolio of the Defence Ministry.
Khadka ranks second in the 17-member Cabinet after Prime Minister Prachanda while Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha ranks third.
Earlier, Shrestha was appointed DPM and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation on December 26, 2022.
Of the 11 new members inducted in the Cabinet, four are from the Nepali Congress, two from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and one each from the CPN (Maoist Centre), Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, Loktantrik Samjwadi Party, Socialist Party of Nepal and Nagarik Unmukti Party. However, the CPN-Maoist has eight in total including the Prime Minister in the government.
The newly inducted ministers include Dr Bedu Ram Bhusal of the CPN (Unified Socialist) as Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister, Ashok Kumar Rai of the JSP-N as Education, Science and Technology Minister, Sarat Singh Bhandari of Loktantrik Samajwadi Party as Labour, Employment and Social Security Minister, Prakash Sharan Mahat of NC as Finance Minister, Mahindra Rai Yadav of Nepal Samajwadi Party as Women Children and Senior Citizens Minister, Shakti Bahadur Basnet of the Maoist Centre as Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister, Prakash Jwala of the CPN (Unified Socialist) as Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Ranjita Shresth of Nagarik Unmukti Party as Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation
Ramesh Rijal of the NC is the Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister and Sita Gurung of NC is the Urban Development Minister.
With the expansion and reshuffling, the Cabinet has now 17 members with one State Minister (Sushila Sirpali Thakuri).
No change has been made in the Ministries of Communications and Information Technology, Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and Federal Affairs and General Administration. Rekha Sharma, Sudan Kiranti and Amanlal Modi of the Maoist Centre are handling these portfolios respectively.
Prachanda, who had become the Prime Minister initially with the support of CPN-UML, changed the alliance after the presidential election and joined the alliance with the Nepali Congress.
Minister for Drinking Water Abdul Khan of Janamat Party led by CK Raut resigned from the post also on Friday after he was denied the portfolio of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies.
When Nepali Congress did not provide the names of four additional ministers and JSP-N of one, Prime Minister Prachanda has still been holding the portfolios of six ministries including the Ministry of Law, Justice and Federal Parliament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Forest and Environment, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Drinking Water.
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