Nepal PM Deuba expands cabinet, inducts 19 new ministers

Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today expanded his cabinet by inducting 19 new ministers, more than a month and a half after he was appointed to the country's top executive post.

Deuba appointed 10 ministers from his party Nepali Congress, six from CPN (Maoist Centre), two from Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik and one from CPN (United).

President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers at Sheetal Niwas this afternoon.

Giriraj Mani Pokharel has been sworn in as the Minister for Health, Ram Krishan Yadav as Minister for Agriculture Development and Mohan Basnet as Minister for Information and Communications.

Bhimsen Das was sworn in as Minister for Defense, Rajan KC as Minister for Youth and Sports and Yagya Bahadur Thapa as Minister for Law.

Deuba wanted to expand his cabinet yesterday, but the failure to address intra-party feud over ministerial berths led to the cancellation of the plan.

With the induction of new ministers, the total strength of Deuba's cabinet has reached 27.

He had formed a small cabinet by inducting seven ministers, including three Deputy Prime Ministers (DPMs), after being elected as 40th Prime Minister of Nepal.

Deuba was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal by President Bhandari on June 7 after the 70-year-old leader secured 388 votes out of a total of 558 votes cast in the 601 -member legislative parliament.

He became Nepal's Prime Minister for the fourth time, succeeding Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda who had resigned after nine months to honour a power-sharing deal and had proposed Deuba's name.