Council of Ministers being expanded, swearing in ceremony being held shortly

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Mar 6: The Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachnda is being expanded today. 

According to the Press Advisor of Prime Minister Prachanda, Govinda Acharya, the name of the ministers has been ascertained and the name list with the formal letter from some parties has been coming.

He said that the preparation is underway to conduct a swearing in ceremony that is possibly being held around 5:30 PM.

As per the information from the Maoist Center, Narayan Kaji Shrestha is listed for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rekha Sharma for Minister for Communication and Technology, Shakti Bahadur Basnet for Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barshaman Pun for Minister of Finance, Hit Bahadur Tamang for Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation.

Similarly, the name list of eight ministers from the CPN (UML) has been finalised. Some are new faces and some are old who served for a while in the ministerial post last year for about a month during the time of CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (UML) coalition.

Damodar Bhandari, leader of the CPN (UML), said that Padam Giri, Jwala Kumari Sah, Damodar Bhandari, Bhagwati Chaudhary, Hari Upreti and Rajendra Rai has been enlisted for the post of minister in the leadership of the Raghubir Mahaseth.

Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport has been allocated for Raghubir Mahaseth while the ministry for others is yet to be ascertained. There is an agreement to allocated a post of State Minister to CPN (UML).

According to Pratibha Rawal, the central member and co-spokesperson of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), four names has been recommended by the RSP. Rabi Lamichhane, RSP Chair, is nominated to assume the role of Deputy Prime minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Dol Prasad Aryal as Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Sumana Shrestha as Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Biraj Bhakta Shrestha as Minister for Youth and Sports.

The official letter about the names of Ministers to be sworn in has not reached to the Office of the President as the news is being prepared.

According to the PM’s Secretariat, the name list is yet to come from Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and CPN (Unified Socialist).