KATHMANDU, March 16: Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli is giving full shape to the Council of Ministers on Friday.

Chief political advisor to the Prime Minister, Bishnu Rimal said that the remaining ministers would be appointed today.

The Office of the President has scheduled the time for administering the oath of office and secrecy to the newly-appointed ministers at 4 pm today.

The Cabinet will be expanded by including the political parties backing the government. New ministers would be picked from the CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center) and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal.

Earlier, PM Oli had held consultation with Maoist Center Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ regarding Cabinet expansion.

Oli was appointed the Prime Minister on February 15 and the Cabinet was expanded for the first time the same day and for second time on February 26. The government is preparing to increase the number of ministries to 21 with the Forum joining the incumbent government.

KATHMANDU, March 15: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal Thursday held a meeting to discuss the Cabinet expansion issue and the election of deputy-speaker of the House of Representatives scheduled for tomorrow.

During the meeting held at the Baluwatar-based Prime Minister’s official residence, two leaders exchanged views on appointments of new ministers in the government from both political parties, as stated by Prime Minister’s information provider Ram Sharan Bajgain.

The meeting also touched on the issue of possible participation of the Federal Socialist Forum in the left government formed after the federal and State Assemblies elections.

CPN-UML Chair Oli had, with the support of the Maoist Center, become the prime minister on February 15 and since then he had expanded the Council of Ministers twice, but it is yet to get a full size.

As per the agreement reached between the two parties, the post of a deputy speaker is to be given to the UML while Krishna Bahadur Mahara had already been elected as the Speaker from the Maoist Center.

KATHMANDU, Feb 22: Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held meeting on issues relating to cabinet expansion and party unification process.

The meeting took place at prime minister’s official residence at Baluwatar on Thursday.

Probably the Cabinet would be expanded today itself after both leaders agree on the number of ministries representing from both parties.

Prime Minister Oli was expected to give full shape to the cabinet on Wednesday but the plans were put on hold after the talks between UML and Maoist Center ended without conclusion on allocation of ministries.

The two leaders have agreed to form 18-member cabinet. But, since more than three dozen leaders are in the race to secure a place in the cabinet, the meeting failed to establish consensus in allocating portfolios.

Maoist Center leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa, Barshaman Pun, Lekhraj Bhatta, Pampha Bhusal, Chakrapani Khanal, Shakti Banset, Amik Sherchan, Girirajmani Pokhrel and Devendra Poudel are the possible faces for the ministerial positions.

Likewise, Ishwor Pokhrel, Bishnu Poudel, Surendra Pandey, Pradeep Gyawali, Yogesh Bhattarai, Rabindra Adhikari, Raghubir Mahaseth, Juli Kumari Mahato, Birodh Khatiwada and Shanta Chaudhary are the possible candidates from CPN-UML.

Meanwhile, senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal is also demanding portfolios ensured for leaders close to him as his faction was totally ignored while appointing chief ministers and speakers, according to a Nepal close leaders.

KATHMANDU, Oct 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has inducted four ministers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) on Saturday.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari administered the oath to Kamal Thapa, Dilnath Giri, Jayanta Chand and Bikram Thapa in presence of PM Deuba at her office in Sheetal Niwas.

Thapa, also the RPP Chair, was sworn-in as the Deputy Prime Minister while three others were sworn-in without portfolio.

PM had expanded his cabinet on Friday inducting four ministers and four state ministers from the party. With this expansion, the current cabinet size has swelled to 64.

Update

Ministers of State administered oath of offices

KATHMANDU, Oct 13: President Bidya Devi Bhandari is to consult the Election Commission and law experts in the context of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba sending a letter to the Office of the President recommending inducting the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) including RPP chairman Kamal Thapa in the present Council of Ministers.

The Office of the President stated today that the President shall decide regarding administering of oath to the new nominees after consulting the Chief Election Commissioner and commissioners of the Election Commission, and the law experts on the issue of Cabinet expansion in the situation of the code of conduct of the election to the House of Representatives and State Assemblies having already been implemented.

The Office of the President has made it clear that there was no truth whatever in the news disseminated by some media that the swearing-in program would be held on Saturday itself.

KATHMANDU, Oct 13: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is all set to expand his cabinet inducting eight ministers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

PM Deuba has alredy sent a letter to the Office of the President on Friday in connection with expanding the Council of Ministers, according to Baluwatar sources.

A letter recommending RPP chairman Kamal Thapa to the post of Deputy Prime Minister and leaders Jayanta Chand, Dilnath Giri and Bikram Thapa as ministers in the present Council of Ministers has been sent to the  president, according to the Prime Minister’s private secretariat.

Similarly, Kunti Kumari Shahi, Sushil Kumar Shrestha, Bhaskar Bhadra and Kanta Bhattarai have been recommended as Ministers of State.

The Office of the President stated that although the program for administering the oath of office and secrecy to the nominees has been said to be held on Saturday, it was not yet fixed.

KATHMANDU, July 25: Although Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided to expand his cabinet on Tuesday, the dispute over allocating the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to whether Ram Chandra Poudel faction or Deuba himself has not been settled yet.

Despite disputes in factions within NC, PM Deuba is preparing to expand the cabinet including CPN (Maoist Center) and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, according a source from Baluwatar.

Deuba, on Saturday had assured Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ that the cabinet would be expanded after the conclusion of NC’s central executive committee meeting, which concluded on late Monday evening.

Also, the expansion of the government witnessed a prolonged delay as NC could not finalize its ministers.

The ruling parties have decided to allocate 13 ministries to NC and nine for Maoist Center. Likewise, Nepal Loktantrik Forum is likely to get three ministries, while Rastriya Prajatantra Party, if agrees to join the government, will apt to get four ministries including deputy prime minister.

It has been understood that, of the 13 ministries allocated to NC, Deuba has promised four to Poudel faction, and one each to Krishna Sitaula and Khum Bahadur Khadka factions.

Also, FSF which previously turned down Deuba’s request, is asking for Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, according to sources. However, the ruling parties have requested FSF not to push claim over the Tourism ministry.

Meanwhile, Maoist Center has already finalized its name of ministers. According to sources, Maoist Center is sending Girirajmani Pokhrel, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, Shyam Kumar Shrestha, Asha Khanal, Shiva Kumar Mandal and Tek Bahadur Basnet to the cabinet.

Currently, Deuba led government has three ministers from NC, three from Maoist Center and one from Nepal Loktantrik Forum.

KATHMANDU, July 24: Nepali Congress central committee member Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that the cabinet would be expanded soon after the conclusion of ongoing central committee meeting of the party.

“Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba is busy in central committee meeting as it was necessary to hold discussion on contemporary issues including review of the two round of local-level election,” said Dr Mahat to RSS.

“PM Deuba has completed all the internal homework for cabinet expansion. He has made final preparation to expand the cabinet inducting new ministers from the NC as well as other parties soon after the conclusion of the ongoing central committee meeting,” he added.

NC leader Mahat clarified that any internal disputes and other disputes are not the reasons behind delay in cabinet expansion. RSS

CHITWAN, July 10: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the government would be expanded only after the amendment of the constitution.

At a press conference organized by Press Centre Nepal, Chitwan, Minister Mahara spoke of the government’s preparation to introduce the constitution amendment proposal. “The constitution amendment proposal will be presented today or tomorrow,” he said.

In response to a journalist’s question, Mahara refuted claims of dispute among the ruling parties in sharing the ministries.

He added that a team would soon leave for India to study the impact of Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed by the Indian government.

DMP Mahara said that the impact of the GST had not yet been received and that he had broached the issue during his meeting with the Indian External Affairs Minister during his visit to India.

The Indian central government on July 1 imposed the new and integrated tax system which has effectively invalidated the separate federal tax systems in Indian states. RSS