New Nepal PM expands Cabinet

Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda on Friday inducted 13 new ministers from major coalition partner Nepali Congress into his Cabinet, including the important minister of foreign affairs, taking its total strength to 31.

With that expansion, Mr Prachanda’s Cabinet has taken a full shape.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered oath to the newly-appointed ministers during a ceremony at Sheetal Niwas, the Rastrapati Bhawan here.

NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, other than Premier Prachanda, attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Those sworn-in included: Prakash Sharan Mahat, minister for foreign affairs; Bal Krishna Khand, minister for defence; Sita Devi Yadav, minister for peace and reconstruction; and Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation.

The portfolios of nine others were also assigned on Friday.

Earlier, the Nepali Congress had sent Bimalendra Nidhi and Ramesh Lekhak to the Cabinet as deputy prime minister and minister of home affairs, and the minister for physical infrastructure and transport respectively.

Mr Prachanda was elected Prime Minister on August 4 for the second time after being briefly in power in 2009. He succeeded CPN-UML chairman K.P. Sharma Oli.