National
Cabinet Expansion: NC to send 12 ministers on Friday
In what seemed like a tug-of-war within the Nepali Congress, the major coalition has alas settled on internal distribution of ministries after party President Sher Bahadur Deuba gave in to the demands of Ram Chandra Poudel to hand over five ministries to his camp.Sarin Ghimire
In what seemed like a tug-of-war within the Nepali Congress, the major coalition has alas settled on internal distribution of ministries after party President Sher Bahadur Deuba gave in to the demands of Ram Chandra Poudel to hand over five ministries to his camp.
A meeting between the two camps on Thursday afternoon finally reached an agreement on the distribution of portfolios. Deuba is said to have paid heed to Poudel’s demand of five ministries after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal agreed to hand the Congress an additional ministry—Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. In return, the Maoist Centre will be overseeing the Ministry of Education while the Congress will get the Ministry of Health. The NC will be handling 15 ministries altogether.
A final list of ministers, according to party leaders, is already reached and the swearing in ceremony will take place on Friday morning at 9 am at Sheetal Niwas.
In the new distribution, the establishment side will have eight ministries, Poudel-led faction is getting five, and both the Krishna Prasad Sitaula-led group and Khum Bahadur Khadka-faction will share a ministry each.
The NC has so far sent only two ministers to the government. Bimalendra Nidhi and Ramesh Lekhak had on August 4 taken the oath of office as deputy prime minister and minister for physical infrastructure and transport respectively after Dahal was sworn into office. Nidhi is also looking after the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Sources confirmed that three leaders have already been handed their portfolios. Arjun Narsingh KC will handle the Ministry of Urban Development, Prakash Sharan Mahat the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Bal Krishna Khand to oversee the Ministry of Defense.