Cabinet Expansion Likely Today

July 19, 2017

The Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-MC have come to an agreement on the ministerial berths to be shared by the two parties in PM Sher Bahadur Deuba’s cabinet. In a meeting held on Tuesday to sort out this issue, PM Deuba, Bimalendra Nidhi and Ramesh Lekhak represented the NC, while CPN-MC was represented by CPN-MC Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma and Barshaman Pun. Following this development, the cabinet expansion is likely to happen today.

According to Ramesh Lekhak, Nepali Congress, which heads the ministries of finance, education, and labor and employment, will get 13 new portfolios including Defense, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Information and Communications. CPN-MC will get nine ministries which include Health, Agriculture and General administration among others. The party handles the ministries of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Federal Affairs and Local Development at present.

Bhanu Deuba, the Prime Minister’s Chief Personal Secretary said that both the parties would discuss the constitution amendment with the leaders of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal before the cabinet expansion.