PM Oli to reappoint four former Maoist Center ministers, oath-taking later today

KATHMANDU : Four former CPN (Maoist Center) ministers in the KP Oli-led Cabinet, who were relieved of their positions on Thursday, are being reappointed on Friday.

These ministers lost their posts as their former party, the CPN (Maoist Center) decided to suspend them as the lawmakers of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Reading out a notice in Thursday’s parliament meeting, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that the four ministers had been relieved of their positions as lawmakers upon the recommendation of their party, the CPN (Maoist Center).

The list includes Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Industry Minister Lekhraj Bhatta, Urban Development Minister Prabhu Sah and Labor Minister Gaurishankar Chaudhary who lost their positions as lawmakers upon the recommendation of their party. Rayamajhi was elected from Arghakhanchi, Bhatta from Kailali-4,  Sah from Rautahat-3 and Chaudhary from Kailali-3 during the parliamentary elections in 2017.

Prime Minister KP Oli is scheduled to administer the oath of office and secrecy to them at 5 PM later today, according to Surya Thapa, a press aide to PM Oli.

According to Article 78 (1), the prime minister can appoint a person who is not a member of the federal parliament as a cabinet minister. However, such a person is required to obtain the membership of parliament within six months of the oath-taking. Based on this constitutional provision, the four former Maoist Center leaders can remain in the Oli-led Cabinet until October.

These four leaders had decided to leave CPN (Maoist Center) and join the ruling CPN-UML as central committee members following the Supreme Court’s March 7 verdict to revive the erstwhile CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) and invalidate their merger into the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). The NCP was formed as a result of a merger between the Maoist Center and UML in 2018 following the landslide victory of the left alliance in 2017 parliamentary elections.