Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" on Tuesday expanded his Cabinet for the first time by inducting 12 ministers and three junior ministers and finalised a power-sharing deal, more than three weeks after assuming charge. Prachanda, the 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader was sworn in as the Nepal Prime Minister on December 25 last year, for the third time after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli.
Top leaders from the ruling coalition, including the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSB) met Prime Minister Prachanda at his residence here on Monday to finalise the power-sharing deal.
Bimala Rai Paudel from the CPM (UML) was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, while Hari Upreti, also from the same party, was elevated as the country's defence minister. The newly appointed ministers took the oath of office and secrecy at an official ceremony at Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari's residence here. (PTI)
