Nepal PM expands cabinet, inducts 19 new Ministers

Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday expanded his cabinet by inducting 19 new ministers.

The cabinet expansion saw induction of 10 ministers from the Nepali Congress (the biggest party in the parliament), six ministers from the CPN (Maoist Center), two from the Nepal Loktantrik Forum and one from the CPN (United).

Bhimsen Das Pradhan from the Nepali Congress has been appointed as Minister for Defence.

Among the 19 newly-appointed ministers, Deuba has picked only three women ministers, while previously there were seven since the formation of the new government in June this year.

The newly-inducted ministers were sworn-in on Wednesday by Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari at her official residence - Sheetal Niwas.

-ANI