Three ministers inducted in Nepal cabinet in latest expansion

Kathmandu [Nepal], May 3 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has inducted three more ministers in his cabinet, making it the ninth expansion of the council of ministers in five months since he took office in December last year following general elections.

In the latest round of expansion, Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel assigned ministerial portfolios to Dhan Raj Gurung, Mohan Bahadur Basnet and Digbahadur Limbu.

Gurung has been named as Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Basnet will look after Health and Population and Limbu will be Minister for Youth and Sports. The three ministers belong to Nepali Congress.

The appointments were made on recommendations of Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, who is into his third stint as Prime Minister.

He reshuffled the cabinet in March after weeks of hiatus and was only able to induct 11 ministers which included a state minister.

The cabinet reshuffle had seen four leaders from Nepali Congress being inducted in the cabinet. The largest party in the ruling coalition could fill half of the seats allocated due to the rising dissatisfaction over the division of ministerial posts.

The cabinet can have a maximum strength of 25 and there are two vacancies now.

Dahal won a vote of confidence in parliament in March after securing the support of the Nepali Congress party and some other smaller parties. This was the second floor test after he took over as the Prime Minister on December 25.

The second vote of confidence was necessitated after the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist led by KP Sharma Oli and Rashtriya Prajatantra Party withdrew their support following Dahal's decision to back Ramchandra Paudel, who was fielded by Nepali Congress, in the presidential election.