Team Prachanda: Know your ministers in the 23-member cabinet

Kathmandu: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ expanded the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, almost a month after the government formation.

A meeting of the parties in the ruling coalition had finalized the ministerial positions for the parties Monday evening.

With this, the cabinet has got almost a full shape.

As per the agreement reached between the ruling parties, CPN-UML, the largest party in the coalition, got eight ministerial positions and one deputy prime minister position.

Likewise, CPN (Maoist Center) got four minister positions, and one state minister position. Its chair Dahal leads the government as the Prime Minister.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party got additional two ministries, and one state minister position. The party’s chair Rabi Lamichhane is already holding the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. The party, which has a strength of 20 seats in the lower house, has one deputy prime minister and minister, two ministers and one state minister in the cabinet.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party has got one deputy prime minister and minister, two ministers and one state minister position. The Janamat Party has been given the responsibility to handle one ministry.

According to the constitution, the members of the council of ministers cannot exceed 25. As such, the ruling coalition can appoint only two more members in the cabinet.

Here is a complete list of members in the cabinet led by Dahal.

Name	Position	Portfolio	Party
Pushpa Kamal Dahal	Prime Minister	Forests and Environment/Youth and Sports	Maoist Center
Bishnu Prasad Paudel	Deputy Prime Minister	Finance	CPN-UML
Narayan Kaji Shrestha	Deputy Prime Minister	Physical Infrastructure and Transport	Maoist Center
Rabi Lamichhane	Deputy Prime Minister	Home Affairs	Rastriya Swatantra Party
Rajendra Lingden	Deputy Prime Minister	Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation	Rastriya Prajatantra Party
Rekha Sharma	Minister	Communications and Information Technology	Maoist Center
Bikram Pandey	Minister	Urban Development	Rastriya Prajatantra Party
Jwala Kumari Shah	Minister	Agriculture and Livestock Development	CPN-UML
Damodar Bhandari	Minister	Industry, Commerce and Supplies	CPN-UML
Rajendra Kumar Rai	Minister	Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation	CPN-UML
Abdul Khan	Minister	Water Supply	Janamat Party
Bimala Rai Paudyal	Minister	Foreign Affairs	CPN-UML
Padam Giri	Minister	Health and Population	CPN-UML
Bhagwati Chaudhary	Minister	Women, Children and Senior Citizens	CPN-UML
Hari Upreti	Minister	Defence	CPN-UML
Sudan Kirati	Minister	Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation	Maoist Center
Aman Lal Modi	Minister	Federal Affairs and General Administration	Maoist Center
Sishir Khanal	Minister	Education, Science and Technology	Rastriya Swatantra Party
Dol Prasad Aryal	Minister	Labour, Employment and Social Security	Rastriya Swatantra Party
Dhruva Pradhan	Minister	Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs	Rastriya Prajatantra Party
Sushila Sirpali Thakuri	State Minister	Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation	Maoist Center
Toshima Karki	State Minister	Health and Population	Rastriya Swatantra Party
Deepak Bahadur Singh	State Minister	Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation	Rastriya Prajatantra Party