6 Madhesis join Prachanda govt as ministers ahead of local

Six Madhesis today joined Prime Minister Prachanda's council as ministers, in a move seen as a shot in the arm for the Nepal government ahead of the crucial local-level elections which Madhesis have threatened to boycott.
Sumitra Biswas has been appointed the Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation; Yashoda Lama as Minister of State for Land Reform and Management; and Janak Chaudhary as Minister of State for Federal Affairs and Local Development.
The three lawmakers are from the Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar- led Nepal Democratic Forum (NDF), one of the major Madhesi parties.
Gachhadar was sworn in as the Deputy Prime Minister with Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.

Two other ministers -- Jitendra Narayan Dev and Gopal Dahit -- also joined the government. Dev has taken charge of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Dahit has been appointed as Minister for Land Reform and Management.
With the newly-inducted ministers, the strength of the Prachanda led council of ministers has reached 46.

Under the new federal structure, the local governments will have more rights and expanded powers.
Ruling parties -- Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) -- main opposition CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party have fielded candidates for the polls.
The first round of elections in provinces 3, 4 and 6 and the second round in provinces 1, 2, 5 and 7 will be held on May 14 and June 14 respectively.

The local-level elections will take place across Nepal after a gap of 20 years. They should be held in every five years but due to political instability, they were halted since May 1997.
Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections until the Constitution is amended to accommodate their views: more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.
The Nepal government has tabled a new Constitution amendment bill in the Parliament to address the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties ahead of the local elections.
Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalised the Terai community.