Prime Minister reshuffles Cabinet; Maoist Centre ministers left without portfolio

Kathmandu / Oct 17: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba reshuffled the Cabinet on Tuesday evening.

The recently added ministers and state ministers from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have been allocated ministries and the CPN (Maoist Centre) ministers have been left without portfolios.

PM Deuba has appointed RPP Chairman Kamal Thapa as Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister, Dil Nath Giri as Minister for Urban Development, Jayanta Chand as Minister for Supplies, Bikram Thapa as Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare.

Likewise, Bhaskar Bhadra has been appointed as State Minister for Energy, Sushil Kumar Shrestha as State Minsiter for Supplies, Kunti Shahi as State Minister for Urban Development, Kanta Bhattarai has been appointed as State Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare.

However, the portfolio of CPN-United Minister Mithila Chaudhary has been kept intact. CPN-United recently mergred with CPN (Maoist Centre).

The prime minister reshuffled the Cabinet in the wake of CPN (Maoist Centre)’s move to back down from its earlier decision to quit government. The party said it cancelled its decision to pull out of government after receiving tip that the government is working to defer the elections slated for November 26, and December 7.