President Ram Baran Yadav administered the oath of office and secrecy to Prime Minister Oli, Deputy Prime Ministers Kamal Thapa and Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar and Ministers Satya Narayan Mandal, Agni Kharel, Som Prasad Pandey, Haribol Gajurel and Ram Kumar Subba. Later, in the evening, Oli inducted Megh Raj Nepali of Madhes Samata Party as a state minister. Nepali's portfolio has yet to be decided.Oli has appointed Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) Chairman Thapa as foreign minister and Chairman of Madhesi People's Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) Bijay Gachchhadar as minister for physical infrastructure and transport. Likewise, Oli has picked three ministers -- Mandal, Kharel and Pandey -- from his own party.
Lawyer-turned politician Kharel has been appointed minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs and Pandey has been given the Ministry of Industry. Similarly, Haribol Gajurel of UCPN (Maoist) has been appointed agriculture minister. But UML standing committee member Mandal and RPP-N leader Subba are yet to be given their portfolios.
The prime minister is yet to appoint the home and finance ministers. Leaders said he plans to appoint the other ministers after holding intra-party discussions within the ruling coalition partners and then among the parties.
As per the understanding reached among the major coalition partners, the UML is to head the finance ministry while the UCPN (Maoist) has bagged the home ministry. But the parties have yet to pick the individuals to head these key ministries.
UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Paudel is believed to be one of the possible candidates for finance minister. Also, UML leaders assume that the top leadership may choose to reappoint former finance minister Surendra Pandey to the posit if Paudel is given some other key ministry. UML Vice-chairman and former home minister Bhim Rawal is another possible choice of the party leadership but they are still undecided about the right portfolio for him.
Also, UCPN (Maoist) leaders have failed to finalize who will head the home ministry as various key leaders including Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Top Bahadur Raymajhi and Shakti Basnet have staked strong claims to the position. UCPN (Maoist) is likely to head around half-a-dozen ministries.
The UML standing committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter. "After that top leaders from the coalition parties will again sit and negotiate the matter. The leaders will first decide which party will head which ministries and then only will the choice of ministers be finalized," said deputy chief of the party's publicity department Surya Thapa. He said it is still too early to declare the names of the ministers-to-be because it all depends on the ministries a specific political party bags.
Meanwhile, RPP-N and MPRF-D are also yet to recommend names of the remaining ministerial appointments.
RPP-N chief whip Dilnath Giri said his party has claimed four ministries. "Our party has given all authority to the party chairman to choose the ministers on the basis of qualification, efficiency and the principle of inclusion," said Giri.
Aspirants from RPP-N include Dilnath Giri, Resham Lama, Bikram Thapa, Kunti Shahi, Kamala Sharma, Bhakta Bahadur Bishwakarma and Dinesh Shrestha.
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