KATMANDU: Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal yesterday expanded his Cabinet. He inducted five ministers in the Cabinet, two of them Muslims.
Mohammad Aftab Alam, who is a Nepali Congress MP and hails from Rautahat district in the Terai region, has been given Cabinet rank with Labor and Construction portfolios while Rizwan Ansari, a member of the Nepal Communist Party (United Marxist and Leninist) has been appointed as state minister for home.
After the elections of 601-member Constituent Assembly one year ago this is the first time that two Muslims have been inducted into the Cabinet. In the earlier Cabinet of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, whose government collapsed last month, not a single Muslim was appointed a minister.
As per reports coming in from across the country, the appointment of two Muslims as ministers has created a wave of happiness and enthusiasm among the Muslim community. However, the prime minister has failed to form a full-fledged Cabinet as three Madhesi parties — Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Sadbhawana Party (SP) — did not send their representatives yesterday.
Nepal inducted five new ministers, four from his party, NCP(UML), and one from Nepali Congress. With yesterday’s expansion, the total number of ministers including the prime minister has reached 22. Another expansion is imminent since Terai-based parties did not joint the government yesterday.
According to the sources, the Terai-based parties, MJF, TMLDP and Sadbhawana Party, are bargaining for rich ministries. They have accused the NC and NCP (UML) of already grabbing powerful ministries such as home, defense, foreign affairs, and finance.
Meanwhile, Nepal and the UML top brass came under fire during the meeting of the UML parliamentary party earlier in the morning. Most UML lawmakers who spoke in the meeting criticized Nepal and the party leadership for putting up a “jumbo Cabinet” by inducting persons who were defeated in the elections.
UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari told reporters after the meeting that most of the speakers criticized the party leadership for “making a mockery of democracy” by inducting defeated candidates in the Cabinet.
