Kathmandu, March 22

A meeting of the 10-party ruling alliance held at Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's official residence to discuss allocation of Cabinet portfolios among alliance partners failed to reach a deal.

Nepali Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak told mediapersons that alliance leaders began discussing the division of Cabinet portfolios and they would hold more discussions. Lekhak said the PM would give full shape to the government as soon as possible.

The PM himself has been holding more than a dozen ministries after Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party quit the Cabinet.

Lekhak said discussion on the division of Cabinet portfolios had just begun and they had not yet reached a deal on which party would get how many ministries.

As per the constitutional provision, there can only be 25 ministers in the Cabinet, including the prime minister.

Lekhak further informed that the alliance partners had decided to secure passage of crucial bills under consideration of the Parliament soon. The alliance partners were also of the view that governance must be effective.

'We want to include all alliance partners in the government,' Lekhak said.

CPN-Maoist Centre leader Dev Prasad Gurung told THT the PM was of the view that all parties should be inducted in the Cabinet to make it a national consensus government, but as the CPN-UML and RPP leaders told the House of Representatives they would sit in the opposition bench, the PM would now try to induct all other parties inthe government, including the Rabi Lamichhane-led Rastriya Swatantra Party. 'RSP voted in favour of the PM during the vote of confidence and the PM wants to induct as many parties as possible in the government, so it is obvious that the RSP will be asked to join the government,' Gurung said.

RSP Spokesperson Mukul Dhakal told THT that his party had joined the government on the basis of the agreement reached on December 25 and also because their agenda were incorporated in the common minimum programme. If the PM assured them that he would implement those agenda, his party would consider joining the government, otherwise it would not. 'If we get the same Cabinet portfolios that we had earlier, or portfolios of our liking, we may join the government,' Dhakal said.

RSP had quit the government after PM Dahal refused to give the home portfolio to the party.

RSP Chair Lamichhane, who held the home portfolio, had to quit after the Supreme Court annulled his election to the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson for Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal Manish Suman said his party expected three Cabinet portfolios.

Once the prime minister fixes the number of ministries, JSP-N would decide whom to send. 'All our lawmakers are capable to handling Cabinet portfolios and once the PM decides on the number of Cabinet portfolios, we will decide who will be our representatives in the Cabinet,' Suman added. He said the current alliance was basically an alliance of four partners - the CPN-MC, NC, CPN (Unified Socialist) and JSP-N - but if the PM wanted to expand the alliance, he was free to do that.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 23, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.