Maoist leader Lekharaj Bhatta has been appointed Minister for Commerce and Gopal Kiranti, another Maoist, Minister for Culture. [break]
Similarly, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) leaders Sarat Singh Bhandari and Hemraj Tated have been appointed minister for defence, and minister for environment respectively, while Federal Sadbhavana Party leader Anil Kumar Jha has been appointed minister for industry, and Brijesh Kumar Gupta from Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) minister for law.
Prime Minister Bhattarai administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers in the presence of President Ram Baran Yadav at Shital Niwas.
With this second expansion, the number of ministers in the cabinet has reached 21.
The Maoist hardliners led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya have stated that they would join the government only after the decision of the central committee meeting slated for Sept 18. They have got the share of four ministries in the coalition.
The faction has accused party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai of acting against the party´s norms and values.
“We cannot join the government now as it doesn´t have any of our party´s agendas,” said politburo member Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma from the Baidya faction.
The Baidya faction has the share of four ministries in the cabinet. Dahal has the share of five ministries in the coalition and Bhattarai two, and both leaders have already sent their leaders into the cabinet.
The hardliners have cried foul over the four-point agreement reached with the Madhes-based parties to form the current coalition, and the government move to hand over the keys of weapons containers to the Special Committee and return the private properties seized by the Maoists to their rightful owners.
Prime minister´s press advisor Ram Rijhan Yadav said that state ministers from the ruling parties would be sworn in Friday.
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