Kathmandu: Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli today inducted four new ministers - two each from CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre - increasing the strength of his Cabinet to seven. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers at Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu.
Oli appointed CPN-UML leaders Ishwar Pokharel as Defense Minister and Yubaraj Khatiwada as Finance Minister. Ram Bahadur Thapa and Matrika Yadav from Prachanda-led CPN-Maoist Centre were appointed as Home Minister and Minister for Industry and Commerce.
Khatiwada is a former governor of Nepal's Central Bank. After his appointment as Prime Minister early this month, Oli had formed a small Cabinet by appointing Lal Babu Pandit as Minister for Population and Environment and Tham Maya Thapa as Minister for Women Children and Social Welfare.
This time, no one has been made Deputy Prime Minister. Earlier, there were speculation that Pokharel from UML and Thapa from Maoist Centre would get the portfolio of deputy Prime Minister.
In the next round of expansion, ministers from other parties such as Federal Socialist Party are expected to be included in the Cabinet.
The Left alliance of the CPN-UML, led by Oli, and CPN-Maoist Centre, led by Prachanda, had in December secured 174 seats in the 275-member Parliament in the historic provincial and parliamentary polls that many hope will bring much-needed political stability to the Himalayan nation.
It had also secured an overwhelming majority in the upper house of Parliament with 39 out of the 59 seats. PTI