KATHMANDU: President Bidhya Devi Bhandari today administered the oath of office and secrecy to the three newly appointed ministers.

Three new ministers — Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Krishna Gopal Shrestha and Lilanath Shrestha — were inducted in the federal Cabinet on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Wednesday.

The ministers were sworn in by the head of the state at the function organised at her official residence in Shital Niwas.

Paudel is the new finance minister, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, who is a close confidant of Oli, will helm the Ministry of Urban Development while Lilanath Shrestha will hold the portfolio of women, children and senior citizens.

As the cabinet has been reshuffled, Parbat Gurung, who earlier held the portfolio of women, children and senior citizens, has been appointed minister of communications and information technology.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel, who earlier held the portfolio of defence, was divested of the portfolio and was shifted to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Oli has kept the defence portfolio.

The urban development ministry was earlier held by Basant Kumar Nembang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

Paudel, who is the general secretary of NCP and a close aide of Oli, has been placed at the fourth position in the Cabinet after Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. He was elected to the House of Representatives from Rupandehi’s Constituency No 2.

Lilanath represents Siraha’s Constituency No 3 and Krishna Gopal Shrestha represents Kathmandu’s Constituency No 9.

With the expansion, the Oli-led Cabinet now has 25 ministers, with three ministers of state.

The reshuffle took place yesterday after Co-chair of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal held talks with Oli. Earlier, the NCP’s Standing Committee had decided to reshuffle the federal and provincial cabinets to increase the efficiency of the government.

Oli had kept the portfolios of finance and communications and information technology after Yubaraj Khatiwada, who held both the ministries, resigned from the Cabinet on September 4.

The NCP is also likely to reshuffle provincial cabinets.

The reshuffle in Karnali Province is likely to happen soon to pacify disgruntled provincial assembly members who recently moved a no-trust motion against Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi.

The current reshuffle appears to be consistent with Oli’s position. The PM wanted to appoint only finance, communications and information technology and urban development ministers.

Dahal and some other influential leaders of the party wanted to replace most of the Cabinet members.