Khatiwada re-appointed Finance Minister

KATHMANDU, March 4: The government has re-appointed Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada as the Minister for Finance on Wednesday.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Khatiwada as the minister upon the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli in line with the Article 78 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal, which provisions the appointment of a non-parliament member as a minister.

The government has also re-handed him the duty of the Communication and Information Technology Ministry.

Khatiwada has been heading both Ministries since the resignation of former minister Gokul Baskota following the bribe controversy before he resigned yesterday after his two-year term at the National Assembly expired. He was nominated as the NA member by the president upon the recommendation of the government on Feb 21, 2018.

Khatiwada, as per Article 78 (2) must obtain the membership of the federal parliament within six months from the date of the oath-taking or he will not be qualified to be reappointed as the minister. He is scheduled to take the office of oath and secrecy from the president today afternoon itself.

The ruling Nepal Communist Party Secretariat has nominated party Vice-chair Bam Dev Gautam as the upper house member to fill the remaining one vacant position replacing Khatiwada.

But Prime Minister Oli has backed Khatiwada for re-nomination to the upper house and has been refusing to recommend Gautam to the president despite the party pressure.