Five Ministers in Limbo After Cabinet Expansion in Far Western Province

Dhangadhi: Following a controversial expansion of the Far Western Province cabinet, five newly appointed ministers are currently without specific ministries, leading to a political impasse. This unusual situation arose after more ministers were appointed than there are available ministries.

Rajendrasinh Rawal, leader of the CPN-UML Sudurpaschim Parliamentary Party, reassured that these ministers will be assigned responsibilities soon. The issue has emerged because the coalition government, including the United Socialist Party, CPN-UML, Nagarik Unmukti Party, and the Maoist Center, appointed a surplus number of ministers without proper departmental allocation.

In the latest cabinet expansion led by Chief Minister Dirgha Bahadur Sodari, which is his third such move, Surendra Bahadur Pal from UML was assigned as the Minister of Economic Affairs and Om Prakash Bhat from the Maoist Center was given full responsibility of the Ministry of Social Development. However, the five additional ministers appointed at the same time have been left without clear responsibilities.

The expanded cabinet now includes eight new ministers: three from the UML, three from the Maoist Center, one from the United Socialist Party, and one independent MP. The independent MP declined the ministerial position. As a result, UML’s Surendra Bahadur Pal and Maoist Center’s Om Bikram Bhat have designated roles, while others, including UML’s Bir Bahadur Thapa and Hira Sarki, Maoist Center’s Akkal Bahadur Rawal and Lakshmi BK, and United Samajwadi Party’s Maya Pant, remain non-departmental ministers.

With these appointments, the Sudurpaschim Province Council of Ministers has swelled to 11 members, including the Chief Minister. Previously, two ministers from the Nagarik Unmukti Party, Kailash Chaudhary (Physical Infrastructure Development) and Tika Thapa (Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperative), were already serving. Adding to the tension, there has been internal strife within the Maoist Center over the ministerial recommendations. Five MPs – Khagraj Bhatt, Jhapt Saund, Shivsingh Oli, Ramesh Dhami, and Janaki Kunwar Poudel – jointly expressed their dissatisfaction to Chief Minister Sodari, criticizing the appointment of ministers without proper consultation within the parliamentary party