Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expanded his Cabinet for the fourth time on Friday, inducting two ministers from the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

PM Oli appointed NCP lawmaker Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal as the minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs while state minister for Health and Population Padma Kumari Aryal was promoted as the minister for land management, cooperatives and poverty alleviation.

Believed to be close to PM Oli, Dhakal, who was elected from Morang-3, was the chief whip of the CPN-UML parliamentary party in the erstwhile Legislature-Parliament. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office to both the ministers at Sheetal Niwas on Friday evening.

The Law Ministry was vacant after minister Sher Bahadur Tamang resigned on moral grounds over his controversial remarks about female students studying medicine in Bangladesh. Coalition partner Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal sent Surendra Kumar Yadav as the state minister for health and population. The strength of the Oli-led Council of Ministers has reached 25.