Kathmandu, October 15
When Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expanded his cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, leaders close to another chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and the party’s senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal expressed their dissatisfaction.
The reason for their dissatisfaction was apparent: all three new ministers were from the Oli camp as per the current factional position in the party.
However, this is not the only reason that made two other factions angry with Oli. Since the beginning of his premiership, Oli has been ignoring the internal power dynamics in his cabinet formation.
As of now, the cabinet has 25 members including the prime minister, the biggest size permitted by the constitution. Among them, 16 including Oli are from the Oli camp. It is 64 per cent, close to a two-thirds majority.
On the other hand, there are seven ministers close to Dahal and only two close to Nepal.
Moreover, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Lekh Raj Bhatta, who are considered members of the Dahal camp, have increased their proximity with Oli of late.
