The Madhesh provincial government has expanded its Cabinet.
Chief Minister Krishna Prasad Yadav appointed six additional ministers from four different parties on Wednesday, bringing the Cabinet to its full strength.
With these appointments, the Cabinet now consists of 12 members, including the chief minister.
The chief minister added two ministers each from the Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, and one each from the Janamat Party and the CPN (Maoist Center).
From the Nepali Congress, Shankar Chaudhary and Shyam Prasad Patel were appointed as ministers. They were assigned the Ministry of Forests and Environment and the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives, respectively.
Both are elected provincial assembly members from Parsa district. Chaudhary was elected for a second term from Parsa Constituency No. 4 (1), while Patel won for the first time from Parsa Constituency No. 2 (1).
From the JSP Nepal, Raj Kumar Gupta was appointed minister for physical infrastructure development, and Manish Kumar Suman was appointed minister for labor and transport.
Basanta Kushwaha from the Janamat Party was appointed minister for sports and social welfare, while Fakira Mahato from the Maoist Center was made minister for home affairs, communications, and law.
Province Chief Surendra Labh administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly-appointed ministers on Wednesday, according to Shatrudhan Yadav, acting secretary at the Office of the Province Chief.
Krishna Prasad Yadav, the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress, was appointed chief minister on December 5.
After taking the oath on December 7, he appointed three ministers, two of whom were without portfolio.
He expanded the Cabinet for the second time on December 15, appointing two more ministers and assigning portfolios to the previously non-departmental ministers.
