The former Maoists inside the ruling CPN will hand over leadership of the departments of their share to the respective line ministers.
Seven ministers in the current KP Sharma Oli Cabinet from erstwhile CPN (Maoist Center) will get to lead respective departments out of the 14 departments the group gets to head. "We are holding discussions to hand over leadership of the remaining departments after handing over the departments to the respective line ministers," a leader told Setopati.
Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa will lead state affairs and good governance department, Barsha Man Pun the water resource, irrigation and energy department, Chakrapani Khanal the agriculture and land reform department, Shakti Basnet the forest and environment department, Matrika Yadav the consumer benefits and supplies department, Giriraj Mani Pokharel the education and human resource department, and Beena Magar the water and sanitation department.
The erstwhile Maoists will get to lead 14 out of the 33 departments of CPN. They will also get to lead treasury and financial management, library and record, national security promotion, science and technology, literature arts and culture, local level, and publishing departments.
The leaders plan to finalize chiefs of the remaining departments after deciding the five important departments that the secretariat members will head.
Leadership of other departments has yet to be decided as the former CPN-UML and Maoist leaders have failed to agree on who will lead finance and planning, organization, party school, foreign and publicity departments that are set to be handed over to secretariat members.
The school department is the major bone of contention with former Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha and ex-UML leader Ishwore Pokharel claiming for it.
"Ishwore Pokharel comrade is also a senior minister now. We believe that Bam Dev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who are not in the government now, therefore, should be given the departments of their choice," a former Maoist leader stated.
