Cabinet reshuffle unlikely even today

Kathmandu, November 17

A meeting of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) central secretariat today appointed Binda Pandey as in-charge of the party’s Diaspora Committee.

The meeting also appointed Laxman Panta as co-incharge of the committee, Yuvaraj Chaulagain as chairperson and Shree Prasad Shah as secretary.

The meeting, however, did not discuss anything about Cabinet reshuffle or the prime minister’s health, said NCP Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, responding to journalists’ queries after the meeting at Baluwatar.

It had earlier been expected that the meeting would take a decision on Cabinet reshuffle. It was also expected that the PM would delegate the responsibility of the party to Co-chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal and that of the government to Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokhrel before he took a break for health treatment.

Cabinet reshuffle expectations got currency after the PM asked some of the members of his secretariat to resign over performance reasons.

He made fresh appointments to his secretariat on Friday.

However, Oli’s Press Adviser Surya Thapa ruled out such things. He said today’s meeting only appointed Diaspora Committee office bearers, and nothing else. He said Cabinet reshuffle would not take place even tomorrow because of the PM’s hectic schedule.

“As far as delegating responsibilities to Dahal and Pokhrel are concerned, Dahal will automatically be in-charge of the party as one of its chairpersons in Oli’s absence, while a DPM automatically becomes acting PM. So no decision by secretariat is needed on these matters,” said Thapa.