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Kathmandu,Tuesday February 01, 2000 Magh 18th, 2056.
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Cabinet reshuffle likely today
-By Ameet Dhakal
KATHMANDU, Jan 31- The much talked about reshuffle of the cabinet by Prime
Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is likely to materialize tomorrow, according to highly
placed sources close to the Prime Minister.
Bhattarai is expected to appoint Ram Chandra Poudel as the Deputy Prime
Minister (DPM) with independent charge of the ministry of communications and information.
" Be prepared to welcome Poudel as the DPM in the cabinet," the Prime Minister
told his cabinet colleagues after today’s emergency cabinet meeting, sources said.
The cabinet meeting is also learnt to have appointed Dr Tilak Rawal as the
new governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Rawal’s name was minuted during the cabinet
meeting, sources said. However, Dr Rawal’s name as the new governor is likely to be
announced only on Wednesday after the decision matures legally.
Prime Minister today briefly summoned Acharya and informed that he was
accepting his resignation. "Acharya’s resignation has already been forwarded to
the Royal Palace," says the source.
The sources said Prime Minister wanted to forward Acharya’s resignation
and Poudel’s appointment together to the Royal Palace.
The Prime Minister’s Office, however, did not confirm whether
Poudel’s appointment as the DPM has been forwarded to the Royal Palace today.
Sources say Foreign Minister Dr Ram Saran Mahat will replace Acharya as the
finance minister. While Bhattarai himself will look after the foreign ministry.
Poudel’s expected ascendance to the post of DPM was long expected but
was put on hold due to internal wrangle in the Nepali Congress and Acharya’s
unexpected resignation last week.
Acharya tendered his resignation last Friday amid ensuing differences with
the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues over the appointment of Nepal Rastra Bank
governor. During the heated cabinet meeting Thursday, Acharya had vehemently opposed Dr
Rawal’s appointment as the governor. Acharya had argued that he wanted a
reform-minded professional with sound knowledge of macro economic policies at the helm of
the country’s central bank. Acharya had proposed Ram Binod Bhattarai, finance
secretary as the governor.
Given the delicate balance of the Bhattarai Government and Acharya’s
strong defence of Bhattarai as the Prime Minister during the Nepali Congress’s
Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting, observers had expected that Bhattarai would not
accept Acharya’s resignation.
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