Nepal: Newly appointed ministers take charge

A day after a major diplomatic reshuffle in the Nepali Cabinet under Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the newly-appointed ministers took charge of their offices on Thursday.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of Office and Secrecy to the newly appointed minister amidst an event held at Sheetal Niwas today afternoon.

Oli had informed his Council of Ministers on Tuesday about his move to change members of his cabinet and had sent the list to the Office of the President which was released late on Wednesday night.

A meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Wednesday afternoon finalised the names of new MPs to be inducted to the Cabinet in place of the outgoing ministers who, according to the Prime Minister, had performed 'underwhelmingly'.

Six incumbent ministers and three state ministers were made to leave the Cabinet while nine others have joined the Oli-cabinet.

The Prime Minister brought in Bashanta Nembang as Minister for Physical Infrastructure, Hridayas Tripathi as Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Parbat Gurung as Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Ghanshyam Bhusal as Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Lekhraj Bhatta as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply and Rameshwar Raya Yadav as Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security.

All the ministers took oath in presence of Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Chairperson of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and other dignitaries.