According to Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Barsha Man Pun, Prime Minister Khanal has given Ministry of Health, Ministry of Law and ministry of Land Reform and Management to Deputy Prime Minister and Information and Communication Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara. [break]
Likewise, the Ministry of Labor and Transport has been given to Minister for Physical Planning and Works Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Women and Social Welfare to Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma and Ministry of Sports and Youths to Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Pun.
The prime minister´s move comes in line with the agreement reached between CPN-UML and the Maoist on the division of ministerial portfolios.
As per the agreement between the two parties, the Maoists are supposed to get a total 11 ministerial portfolios. The prime minister, however, has decided to keep the home ministry for himself for the time being as he has been facing strong opposition against the decision from within his own party.
Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma told Republica that the Maoist would get the home ministry sometime later. “There was an agreement to give the responsibility of the home ministry to Mahara (Saturday). But later, the prime minister kept it for himself saying the move if taken now would invite controversy,” he said.
Though the prime minister was initially planning to distribute additional portfolios to UML ministers in the cabinet, he did not do so as talks are still on to bring two other political parties, including Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, in the government. While senior UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari holds the portfolio of deputy prime minister and finance ministry, two other ministers -- Ganga Lal Tuladhar and Bishnu Paudel -- from the party have been appointed as ministers for education and defense, respectively.
An informal cabinet meeting on Saturday also decided that the prime minister would address parliament on Sunday to discuss the country´s security situation in the aftermath of Thursday´s incident in central jail and shortage of petroleum products.
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