Kathmandu, November 1
Karnali Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi has deferred the plan of reshuffling his cabinet.
Shahi was preparing to remove two ministers considered close to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and appoint three ministers from the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led faction. However, the party’s executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal directed Shahi not to implement the plan immediately, it has been learned.
Social Development Minister Dal Rawal and Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Minister Nanda Singh Budha were said to lose their jobs today. The Physical Infrastructure Ministry was vacant with incumbent Khadka Bahadur Khatri dragged into a banking offence. Hence, Shahi was preparing to induct three new leaders into the cabinet.
The Nepal faction had recommended Chandra Bahadur Shahi. Karabir Shahi and Amar Bahadur Thapa for the positions.
The development follows an understanding made between Shahi, considered close to another party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and pro-Nepal leaders in the province after pro-Oli leaders registered a no-confidence motion to remove him from the parliamentary party leader’s position. If pro-Nepal leaders had also supported the motion, the party would have removed Shahi from the position of its leader, hence the chief minister also.
