The largest party, Nepali Congress, is already plotting to deprive the new Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition of majority in the House of Representatives.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal restructured his Cabinet on Wednesday, adding new ministers from the CPN-UML, his own party the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Rastriya Swatantra Party.
Sixteen new members of the Cabinet were sworn in by President Ramchandra Paudel at Sheetal Niwas in the evening. On Monday, the prime minister had appointed three ministers after ditching the alliance with the Nepali Congress a day earlier and announcing a new ruling coalition involving the UML and some smaller parties.
On Wednesday, Dahal appointed four ministers from his party, seven from the CPN-UML, three from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, and two from the CPN (Unified Socialist). The prime minister still holds the forest and environment, and health and population portfolios.
However, the Janata Samajbadi Party didn’t join the Cabinet on Wednesday although the party’s chief, Upendra Yadav, was one of the four signatories of Monday’s eight-point agreement on the new ruling alliance. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli, RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane and JSP chair Yadav had signed the agreement.
Also, the Janamat Party led by CK Raut and the Nagarik Unmukti Party of Resham Chaudhary, which were expected to join the new coalition, stayed away from the Cabinet formation on Wednesday.
Each party has its reservations about joining the new Dahal Cabinet, especially as the Congress also started parallel political negotiations with different parties. The Congress reportedly wants to scuttle Dahal’s attempts to secure a trust vote.
Following the formation of the new political equation, the Congress on Tuesday officially withdrew its support extended to the government, and vowed to stay in the opposition.
As per the constitution, after the Congress withdrawal, it is mandatory for Dahal to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days starting Wednesday.
The new Cabinet comprises diverse faces. The UML picked relatively junior and low-profile lawmakers, and repeated mostly familiar faces who had quit the Dahal Cabinet in February last year.
After Dahal joined hands with the Congress ahead of the Presidential elections, UML ministers had quit the government after serving for just over a month in February last year.
Padam Giri, Hari Uprety, Bhagawati Chaudhary, Damodar Bhandari and Jawala Kumari Shah are once again part of the Dahal Cabinet, almost a year after quitting the government. Deputy Prime Minister Raghubir Mahaseth and Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Eradication Balaram Adhikari are the only new faces joining the government from the UML.
“Most of our ministers are from the old team as they could only serve for less than two months in their previous stints,” Bishnu Rimal, deputy general secretary of the UML, said. “As we could not secure portfolios like home and finance, among others, we decided to send our team under the leadership of Mahaseth, who is experienced in the field of physical infrastructure and construction.”
Deputy Prime Minister Mahaseth will be the second senior-most member of the Cabinet followed by Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha from the Maoist Centre and another Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lammichhane from the Rastriya Swatantra Party.
Similarly, the Maoist Centre has introduced two new members in the Dahal Cabinet. Barshaman Pun, who has held several portfolios in previous governments and who is reportedly the “architect” of the current coalition, has been appointed finance minister while Hitman Tamang is the tourism minister from the Maoist Centre.
Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who served as home minister until Sunday, has taken on a new role as minister for foreign affairs. Likewise, Shakti Basnet and Rekha Sharma, who served as energy minister and communications minister, respectively, have retained their positions in the new setup.
Another party that joined the new Cabinet is the Rastriya Swatantra Party, which has secured four ministries.
Two ministers are new faces while two are old ones. Party chair Lammichhane, who was bent on becoming home minister, has secured the portfolio. He had reportedly threatened not to join the government unless the party was given the home ministry, and Prime Minister Dahal and UML chair KP Oli had ultimately agreed to his demand.
“Both leaders are quite aware of the ‘conflict of interest’ that can arise when Lamichhane leads the home ministry, but the onus is on him to address such concerns and come clean,” a standing committee member of the Maoist Centre told the Post.
Complaints have been lodged against Lamichhane at multiple police offices and district administration offices for his apparent misuse of cooperative funds, prompting an investigation by the Nepal Police.
DP Aryal, another leader of the party, also briefly served as labour minister last year and had resigned after a change in the ruling coalition. Sumana Shrestha and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha are new faces to join the government from the party, assuming leadership of the education and sports ministries, respectively.
Another partner in the coalition, the CPN (Unified Socialist), has sent two members to the Cabinet. Bhanu Bhakta Joshi and Dhan Bahadur Budha will head the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, and Ministry of Urban Development, respectively.
Three Madhesh-based political parties that were expected to join the government—Janata Samajbadi, Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party—have so far refrained from doing so.
“Our party’s central committee meeting failed to agree on whom to send to the Cabinet,” said a Janata Samajbadi Party leader. “There is also the added risk of losing the leadership of the Madhesh provincial government.
“Several of our party leaders objected to the party’s chair’s proposal to join the government,” the leader said. “If we join, the Congress will immediately withdraw support extended to our provincial government in Madhesh, and so we have stayed away.”
The Janamat Party has also set a condition for joining the federal Cabinet. “Whoever helps us secure the post of chief minister of Madhesh province, we will extend support to them,” a Janamat Party leader said, “and we are in touch with the ruling parties as well as the Congress.”
On Wednesday, Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba held talks with three Madhesh-based leaders at his Budhanilakantha residence and discussed unseating the Dahal government by denying it majority votes. The leaders meeting Deuba were Mahantha Thakur, chairman of the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party; CK Raut, chairman of the Janamat Party; and Resham Chaudhary of the Nagarik Unmukti Party. They reportedly discussed forging a parallel coalition.
The Nagarik Unmukti Party is also eyeing the post of chief minister of the Sudurpaschim province. Without its support, there cannot be a majority government in the Sudurpaschim province. “We will wait for some time before deciding on whether or not to join the government,” said Chaudhary.
“This alliance can break down any time,” Gagan Thapa, general secretary of the Nepali Congress, said in his first reaction after the formation of the new political equation.
“This new alliance is not for political stability. It is an alliance of interest groups and opportunists. When they struggle to devise a power-sharing formula in the future, it will automatically implode.”
Deuba had asked the leaders of the three Madhesh-based parties to stand with the Congress. “The previous alliance collapsed and this new coalition will not get a majority,” Deuba told the Madhesh-based leaders, “which is why I urge you to partner with us.”
But Raut reportedly told Deuba to join hands with the UML in order to ensure political stability in the country. Chaudhary gave similar advice while Thakur only listened to the conversation, said a Congress leader.
CPN-UML
Raghubir Mahaseth—DPM and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation
Padam Giri—Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Hari Uprety—Defense
Bhagawati Chaudhary—-Women and Children
Rajendra Rai—Ministry of Water Supply
Damodar Bhandari—Industry
Jwalakumari Shah—Agriculture
Balaram Adhikari—Land Management and Cooperatives
CPN (Maoist Centre)
Narayan Kaji Shrestha—DPM and Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.
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