Three new ministers – two from Nepali Congress (NC) and one from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) – have been sworn in to office in Lumbini province.
Province Chief Krishna Bahadur Gharti Magar appointed them on the recommendation of Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya on Thursday morning.
Janmajaya Timilsina of NC was appointed minister for social development, Dev Karan Kalwar of NC was given the responsibility of Ministry of Forests and Environment, and Adesh Kumar Agrawal of JSP was made minister for internal affairs and law.
Timilsina was elected from Bardiya, Kalwar from Nawalparasi, and Agrawal from Banke.
The newly-appointed ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy amid a ceremony held at the Office of the Province Chief in Butwal.
The Cabinet expansion, which had been stalled due to internal strife in NC, was finalized only on Wednesday.
As there was no agreement on Nagarik Unmukti Party and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP), one ministry is still with the chief minister. The ruling coalition partners have agreed to include the two parties in the next phase.
The ruling parties had agreed to give five ministries including the chief minister to CPN-UML, five ministries to NC, and two ministries to other small parties.
