The ruling coalition has failed to agree on sharing of ministries even on Wednesday.
Coalition leaders met at Baluwatar to decide about Cabinet expansion but the meeting ended inconclusively with the parties standing firm on their respective demands, according to a leader who participated in the meeting.
“Prime Minister will hold one-on-one meeting with each party after the leaders did not give up their stands,” the leader stated.
The meeting will again be held later Wednesday afternoon.
Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has struggled to expand the Cabinet in lack of agreement among the parties over sharing of ministries.
PM Dahal had been planning to expand the Cabinet immediately after passing the floor test on March 20 but he has not been able to do so in lack of agreement among the parties.
Dahal proposed eight ministries for Nepali Congress (NC) and five ministries for his party CPN (Maoist Center) during a meeting of top coalition leaders at Baluwatar Tuesday evening.
He proposed three ministries for Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the fourth-largest party in Parliament, even though RSP did not attend the meeting. Similarly, Dahal offered two ministries each to CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).
He offered one ministry each to Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP), while also proposing to induct one independent lawmaker as minister to his Cabinet.
All the parties in the House apart from CPN-UML, RPP, and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party had voted in support of the government during the floor test, and all of those who voted for Dahal except Rastriya Janamorcha Party are keen to join the government.
Nepali Congress (NC) has staked claims for eight ministries while CPN (Unified Socialist), which has just 10 House of Representatives (HoR) members, has been demanding four. Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), which had been offered two ministries in the previous coalition also including UML but had not joined the government, is demanding three ministries.
Janamat Party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) and Nagarik Unmukti Party have also been demanding at least two ministries each.
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.
