UML chairman Oli meets Nepal’s PM Prachanda, discuss cabinet expansion

Kathmandu, Jan 12 (PTI) Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli met on Thursday and discussed issues relating to cabinet expansion as well as the latest political developments.

Oli reached the PM’s official residence at Baluwatar to meet Prachanda.

The two leaders, who have agreed to lead the government on a rotation basis, mainly discussed matters relating to expansion of cabinet and power-sharing, CPN-Maoist Centre secretary Ganesh Shah said.

Prime Minister Prachanda plans to expand the eight-member cabinet to give it full shape after securing the vote of confidence earlier on Tuesday.

He received the support of 268 of the 270 lawmakers who were present in parliament – the highest number of votes a prime minister has ever received in a vote of confidence in parliament.

Besides power sharing, the two leaders also discussed the election of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, according to sources close to the Maoist party.

The election of the Speaker is scheduled to take place on January 21. Prachanda is leading the government in the first half of the five-year tenure while the CPN-UML will get the first half term of the Speaker.

Similarly, the CPN-Maoist Centre will get the remaining half tenure of the Speaker while the CPN-UML will get the post of President as per the deal.

Meanwhile, chief ministers of all seven provinces have been appointed as per the understanding reached among the ruling alliances.

According to the deal, the CPN-UML got chief ministers in four provinces – Province No. 1, Gandaki Province, Lumbini Province, and Sudur Paschim Province. Similarly, Maoist got their chief ministers appointed in Bagmati Province and Karnali Province.

Janata Samajwadi Party got its chief minister in Madhes Pradesh.

Hikmat Karki of CPN-UML was appointed the chief minister of Province 1, Khagraj Adhikary of Gandaki Province, Leela Giri of Lumbini, and Rajendra Rawal of Sudur Paschim.

Similarly, Shalikram Jamarkattel of the Maoist Centre was appointed the chief minister of Bagmati and Raj Kumar Sharma was appointed for the post in Karnali.

Saroj Kumar Yadav of JSP was appointed the chief minister of Madhes Province.

The opposition Nepali Congress – the largest political party in parliament with 89 seats – could not get hold of any of the seven provinces after the break in their alliance with the Maoist Centre.

Prachanda was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time on December 26 last year after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader Oli.

The Nepali Congress (NC) in a surprise move supported Prachanda during the trust vote.

In the 275-member House, the UML has 79 lawmakers while CPN (Maoist Center) has 32.