KATHMANDU, Mar 10: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Sunday expanded his Cabinet for a second time by inducting two new members, days after dumping the Nepali Congress and forging a new alliance with the CPN-UML.
Prachanda inducted senior Madhesi leader and chairman of the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Upendra Yadav as the minister for population and health and Koshor Shah, also from JSP, as minister for forest.
With this, the number of ministers, in the Council of Ministers led by Prime Minister Prachanda, has reached 22.
Yadav, who is also among the four deputy prime ministers, along with Shah took the oath of office and secrecy on Sunday from President Ramchandra Poudel at the President’s Office, according to an official press note.
Raghubir Mahaseth from UML, Narayan Kaji Shrestha from Maoist Centre, Rabi Lamichhane from Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Upendra Yadav from JSP became deputy prime ministers in the new government. The ruling alliance now has representation from five political parties.
Meanwhile, Prachanda, a former guerilla leader, is planning to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament by March 13.
The third round of vote of confidence comes after Prachanda dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – the second-biggest party – led by former premier KP Sharma Oli on Monday.
According to constitutional provisions, prime ministers have to take a vote of confidence after any ally withdraws support.
A formal decision to this effect will be taken during Sunday’s Office Bearers’ meeting of the party, he said. The lower House of Parliament – House of Representatives – has been summoned for a session on March 13.
The new coalition has enough seats in the 275-member Parliament, according to media reports.
This will be the third vote of confidence since Prachanda became Prime Minister one and a half years ago. (PTI)
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