CPN (Unified Socialist) has staked claim for at least four ministries.
The party has just 10 House of Representatives (HoR) members but has been demanding at least four ministries during the meetings of top coalition leaders including Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) has more lawmakers than Unified Socialist but the party formed after splitting from CPN-UML has been demanding four ministries pointing that Maoist Center has got the post of PM, the grand old party president and JSP vice-president.
Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and other leaders have demanded four ministries in its recent meetings with PM Dahal, according to a Baluwatar source. “Questions will arise about how many ministries should be given to other parties after giving them four. It will be difficult to agree on sharing of ministries when parties with so few lawmakers make such high demands,” the source has stated. “It would be appropriate to give Unified Socialist three ministries at most.”
The source has revealed that Unified Socialist Chairman Nepal has been demanding a package agreement including power sharing even in the provincial governments. “Nepal has demanded four ministries at the center, at least one chief minister and two provincial chiefs,” the source has added. “Cabinet expansion has been delayed due to lack of agreement on sharing of ministries.”
Nepal, however, has not publicly spoken about its claims.
Unified Socialist Chairman Nepal, and other leaders including Jhala Nath Khanal, Vice-chairman Beduram Bhusal and General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal met PM Dahal even on Tuesday to discuss about sharing of ministries. Unified Socialist has called secretariat meeting after that to decide about the party’s ministers.
The ruling coalition has called a meeting later Tuesday afternoon to decide about Cabinet expansion.
The Cabinet currently has four ministers and one state minister from Dahal-led CPN (Maoist Center) and a minister from Janamat Party with PM Dahal overseeing 16 ministries after Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), RPP and CPN-UML quit the government.
