Chief Minister of Karnali province Yamlal Kandel appointed seven ministers including a minister of state to his Cabinet on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Kandel appointed four ministers from CPN (Maoist Center) – Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Mahendra KC; Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment Durga Bahadur Rawat; Minister for Water Resources and Energy Development Ran Singh Pariyar; and Minister for Social Development Bir Bahadur Shahi.
Pariyar was previously appointed minister without portfolio on April 25, the day Chief Minister Kandel took a floor test.
Chief Minister Kandel appointed Binod Kumar Shah minister for land management, agriculture and cooperatives and Sher Bahadur Budha minister for physical infrastructure and urban development from CPN-UML.
Gamata BK was appointed minister of state for physical infrastructure.
Chief Minister Kandel has kept the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law, which was given to UML, with himself.
Province Chief Tilak Pariyar administered the oath of office and secrecy to six of the seven newly-appointed ministers on Tuesday itself.
Minister for Agriculture Shah boycotted the swearing-in ceremony. According to a source, he had wanted the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure.
The Cabinet had not been able to take full shape in Karnali earlier as the ruling parties Maoist Center and UML could not finalize sharing of ministries.
On April 23, the two parties had finally reached an agreement that Maoist Center would get four ministries and UML would get four ministries including the chief minister.
