Nepal PM Prachanda appoints 16 new ministers, including three deputy PMs

Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Wednesday inducted 16 new ministers in his Cabinet, including three deputy premiers.

Prachanda, a former guerilla leader, dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – the second-biggest party – led by former premier KP Sharma Oli on Monday following which three ministers took the oath of office.

On Wednesday, Prachanda appointed four ministers from his party, the CPN (Maoist Centre), seven from the CPN-UML, three from the Rastriya Swatantra Party and two from the CPN (Unified Socialist).

President Ramchandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers at a ceremony at the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas, according to the president's office.

Three Deputy Prime Ministers include Narayankaji Shrestha with the portfolio of Ministry of Foreign Affairs from CPN-Maoist Centre, Ravi Lamichhane with the portfolio of Home Affairs from Rastriya Swotantra Party and Raghubir Mahaseth with the portfolio of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

The three ministers who were appointed on Monday got portfolios on Wednesday.

After forming the new alliance on Monday, the four political parties reached an 8-point agreement that would be the guiding principle for the new government’s way forward.

The four parties have a combined strength of 142 seats, which is sufficient to show a simple majority.

After the change in coalition, the prime minister must take a vote of confidence in the parliament within 30 days.

Prachanda became the Prime Minister for the third term with the support of the Nepali Congress on December 25, 2022. His party is the third-largest group in the House of Representatives.

After breaking the alliance with the Nepali Congress –the largest party in the House of Representatives– Prachanda joined hands with Oli, who was regarded as Prachanda’s top critic.

Last year, the CPN-UML withdrew its support to the Prachanda-led government following a rift over backing the main opposition party’s candidate for the presidential poll.

The CPN-UML secured 78 seats, followed by the Maoist Centre, which got 32 seats.

The RSP, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajwadi Party and CPN-Unified Socialist won 20, 14, 12 and 10 seats respectively.

In the 2017 election, Prachanda and Oli merged their parties and secured a comfortable majority. Oli became the prime minister, but their partnership ended halfway following differences between them.