Five new ministers, six state ministers sworn in; Madhesi parties yet to
come on board
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expanded his cabinet for the third time
on Wednesday, but failed to form a full-fledged cabinet as three Madhesi
parties- Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party
(TMLP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP)- didn't send their representatives today.
The Prime Minister inducted five new ministers and six ministers of state
- four ministers and three state ministers from his party, CPN (UML), and
one minister and three state ministers from Nepali Congress.
Ministers from the UML - Bhim Rawal (home), Shankar Pokharel (information
and communications), Rabindra Shrestha (general administration) and Rakam
Chemjong (peace and reconstruction) - and Mohammad Aftab Alam (labour and
transport management) from Nepali Congress were sworn in this evening.
Three ministers of state from the UML are: Jutu Gautam Darji (general
administration), Dilli Bahadur Mahat (peace and reconstruction) and Rizban
Ansari (home). Likewise, Ganesh Bahadur Khadka, Chandra Singh Bhattarai
and Khadga Bahadur Basyal of Nepali Congress have been appointed as
minister of state for local development, energy and health respectively.
Prime Minister Nepal administered oath of office and secrecy to the
cabinet ministers in the presence of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav amid a
ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Shital Niwas, while the state
ministers were sworn in at the PMO, Singha Durbar.
Deputy Prime Minister and MJF leader Bijay Gachchhadar and leaders of
other Madhesi parties were absent in the swearing-in ceremony.
The Madhesi leaders absence is construed as their displeasure over the
distribution of ministerial berths.
Although the Prime Minister has agreed to allocate desired number of the
ministries to them the Madhesi parties are said to be unhappy for not
getting powerful portfolios they had been demanding. As per the latest
agreement, MJF will get five ministries along with equal number of state
ministers, TMLP will have three ministries and two state ministers and
Sadbhawana one ministry plus a state minister.
The three Madhesi parties that met yesterday to form a common position
over power sharing had earlier threatened to stay outside the government
if they were denied fair share.
Meanwhile, Dambar Shrestha of CPN (ML) who was sworn in as minister
without portfolio has got land reform ministry.
PM Nepal had inducted UML leaders Bidhya Bhandari (defence) and Surendra
Pandey (finance) on May 25 when he was sworn in.
In the second cabinet expansion, he had appointed Gachchhadar as DPM with
physical planning portfolio and six ministers from NC - Sujata Koirala
(foreign affairs), Prakash Saran Mahat (energy), Purna Kumar Sherma (local
development), Bal Krishna Khad (irrigation), Uma Kanta Choudhary (health)
and Minendra Rijal (federal affairs and legislature parliament). Except
Koirala, the five NC representatives were sworn in as ministers without
portfolio. nepalnews.com mk June 17 09
