Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli today expanded his Cabinet, inducting four new ministers from fringe political parties along with six ministers of state, in a bid to consolidate his position amid the political logjam over the country's new Constitution.
The new ministers include Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Water and Sanitation, Shiva Lal Thapa, Minister for Science and Technology, Deepak Bohora, Minister for Labour and Employment and and Ek Nath Dhakal, Minister without portfolio.
Bohara belongs to the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Dhakal is of the Nepal Pariwal Dal, Shiva Lal Thapa represents Janamukti Party and Prem Bahadur Singh represents Samajbadi Janata Party.
The newly appointed ministers took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bidya Devi Bhandari at Rastrapati Bhawan this evening.
Six new ministers of state have also been named by the Cabinet headed by Oli.
With the third expansion in about three months the total number of ministers in the Oli Cabinet has risen to 40.
However, the ministers of state are yet to be administered the oath of office.
Oli government has already come under criticism by opposition parties for appointing six deputy Prime Ministers.
The move comes after the Madhesis, largely of Indian- origin, rejected rejected as "vague" Nepal government's three-point roadmap to address their demands over some provisions of the new Constitution.
The agitating Madhes-based parties have been protesting for over four months against the seven-province model proposed in the new Constitution adopted on September 20 that divides their ancestral land as a way to politically marginalise them. Over 50 people have been killed in protests by Madhesis since August.
The Madhesi parties have blockaded Nepal's border trade points with India, causing a shortage of essential goods and medicines in the landlocked Himalayan country.
