National
Dahal sworn in as 39th prime minister
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Thursday administered the oath of office and secrecy to CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the 39th prime minister of the country amid a function at Sheetal Niwas.Tika R Pradhan
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Thursday administered the oath of office and secrecy to CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the 39th prime minister of the country amid a function at Sheetal Niwas.
Deputy Prime Ministers Bimalendra Nidhi and Krishna Bahadur Mahara and three Ministers Ramesh Lekhak, Daljit Shripaili and Gauri Shankar Chaudhary also took the oath on Thursday. Nidhi and Lekhak are from the Nepali Congress while Mahara, Shripaili and Chaudhary represent the Maoist Centre.
DPM Nidhi, who will be second in ranking in Dahal’s Cabinet, will also look after the Home Ministry, while DPM Mahara will preside over the Finance Ministry.
Lekhak has been appointed minister for physical planning and transportation, Shripaili the minister for youth and sports and Chaudhary has been appointed minister for agriculture.
The governing Maoist Centre is likely to get eight ministries—education; information and communication; energy; and law, justice and parliamentary affairs besides finance, youths and sports and agriculture.
Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Chief Justice Sushila Karki, Speaker Onsari Gharti, outgoing prime minister KP Sharma Oli, former prime ministers, heads of different missions and other dignitaries were present at Sheetal Niwas during the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday.
Cabinet members
Krishna Bahadur Mahara : Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance
Ramesh Lekhak : Minister for Physical Planning and Transportation
Daljit Shripaili : Minister for Youth and Sports
Gauri Shankar Chaudhary : Minister for Agriculture
Oath delayed
The swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Pushpa Kamal Dahal was delayed by around 40 minutes on Thursday after differences within the Nepali Congress, Dahal’s key coalition partner, over ministerial portfolio led confusion. The President, Vice-President, former ministers, heads of different foreign missions and other dignitaries were forced to wait for the ministers to arrive. The swearing-in ceremony was earlier scheduled for 3pm. (PR)
Scribes kept out
Many reporters representing the mainstream media were barred from entering the first press briefing of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Singha Durbar on Thursday. Only camerapersons and a few reporters were allowed to enter the Prime Minister’s Office, which was swarmed by a large number of CPN (Maoist Centre) cadres.