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Kathmandu Thursday September 27, 2001 Ashwin 11, 2058.
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Cabinet expansion likely next week
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba could
expand his 13- member Cabinet as early as Monday, sources close to him said Wednesday.
Since taking over power in July, Prime Minister Deuba has
kept the Cabinet to a minimum number keeping over half a dozen ministries under him.
With the fiscal budget approved and the current parliamentary
Session almost prorogued, the path has been paved for Deuba to make the expansion. The
number in the Cabinet could be as much as 34, but the final list will be announced only
next week.
The expansion comes after the appointments made by President
of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala on Tuesday naming five of his
supporters as new members to the Central Working Committee (CWC), the party’s apex
body, and making appointments to many other important positions in the party.
One member in the anti-Koirala camp accused him of bullying
through with the appointments and this would actually help Prime Minister Deuba appoint
his supporters in the party to ministerial berths.
"The party President may be authorised to do anything he
pleases and yet he won’t be held accountable for his actions. However, as the
government keeps watch on each and every of his moves he cannot act irrationally,"
said a minister in the Deuba government refusing to be named.
Besides the CWC members, he has also filled other important
positions in the party. Majority of the appointees are either his supporters or close
aides. Koirala appointed Govind Raj Joshi as the Joint General Secretary, Mahanta Thakur
as Treasurer and Arjun Narsingh K.C. as the party spokesman.
Koirala’s move has drawn sharp criticism from his
opponents in the party, who accuse him of continuing his tendency to fill the party
position with his own people ensuring a grip on the party while suppressing the
"minority voice."
Koirala’s opponents say that it was the doing of Sushil
Koirala, who has turned the party President into a rubber stamp figure and is moving the
party his way.
"There were no consultations held in the party before
the move was made and this has clearly drawn a demarcation in the party at a time when
unity in the party was necessary," one senior party member said. "This is not
helping the situation in the party instead it is widening the crack already existing
between the two factions."
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