Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba has said the Cabinet will be expanded soon.
"The Cabinet will be completed soon," PM Deuba said briefly talking with reporters after participating in the House meeting on Monday.
Deuba, who was appointed PM on July 13, has not been able to complete the Cabinet in more than two months and has inducted just two ministers each from Nepali Congress (NC) and Maoist Center and a state minister from NC.
Deuba has not been able to expand the Cabinet due to differences in the ruling coalition about the ordinance making splitting of parties easier.
He was expected to expand it after September 7, the deadline the Election Commission gave to CPN-UML provincial lawmakers and local representatives to join CPN (Unified Socialist). But he has not been able to expand it after coalition partners CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) took different stands on what to do about the ordinance.
Unified Socialist and JSP were not in favor of Cabinet expansion despite Deuba repeatedly urging the coalition partners to give him list of the ministers from the respective parties.
The government has registered a bill in the House to replace the ordinance. The ordinance allows split of a party with support of just 20 percent in either the central committee or parliamentary party. The act about political parties required support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party.
Chairman of Unified Socialist Madhav Kumar Nepal wants the bill to be passed as it is without any amendment in the ordinance fearing any amendment can cause problem for his newly registered party. He is adamant that the bill should not be amended at least until the SC issues verdict on the case about split in UML.
JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav, on the other hand, insists that the bill should either be revoked or amended before Cabinet expansion pointing that there is danger of another split in the party if some leaders are not made ministers.
JSP is expected to get at least five ministries but that will not be enough to placate all the aspirants as most of the 18 House of Representatives (HoR) members who verified in support of Yadav at the Election Commission wants to become minister.
Yadav, therefore, wants Cabinet expansion to be deferred until the replacement bill is amended or revoked.
The delay by the SC in hearing of petition filed by CPN-UML demanding implementation of expulsion of 14 HoR members by the party has further compounded matters.
