Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expanded the Cabinet Friday afternoon.
President Ram Chandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to new ministers from Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP), Nagarik Unmukti Party and Nepal Samajwadi Party (NSP) in the afternoon.
Purna Bahadur Khadka has led the NC contingent as deputy PM and defense minister. Prakash Sharan Mahat (Finance), Ramesh Rijal (Industry) and Sita Gurung (Urban Development) have also been sworn in from the grand old party with NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba sending the names of just four ministers in wait of the list from the Shekhar Koirala faction.
CPN (Maoist Center), that already had four ministers in the Cabinet, has inducted Shakti Bahadur Basnet (Energy). Beduram Bhusal (Agriculture and Livestock Development) and Prakash Jwala (Physical Infrastructure and Transport) of Unified Socialist, Ashok Rai (Education) of JSP, Sharat Singh Bhandari (Labor) of LSP, Ranjita Shrestha (Land Management) of Nagarik Unmukti Party and Mahindra Raya Yadav (Women, Children and Social Welfare) of NSP.
Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who oversaw the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport previously, has now been given the Home Ministry.
The Cabinet only had 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.
Water Supply Minister Abdul Khan of Janamat Party resigned earlier on Friday as the CK Raut-led party decided to quit the government.
