BIRATNAGAR, Aug. 15: The deadlock over ministerial portfolios in the Koshi Province government has been broken, with the CPN-UML and Nepali Communist Party (NCP) agreeing on the number of ministries each party will get and pledging to expand the cabinet by Monday.
The agreement came after the UML agreed to provide the NCP with the number of ministries it had demanded as a condition for joining the new provincial government.
Koshi Province CM Thapa expanding his cabinet today
Indra Bahadur Angbo, parliamentary party leader of the NCP, said provincial chairpersons and parliamentary party leaders of both parties reached an agreement at a meeting on Friday on the number of ministries to be allocated to each party.
Under the agreement, the UML will get five ministries, including the chief minister's office, while the NCP will get four ministries.
The parties, however, are yet to decide which specific portfolios will go to which party. Angbo said the allocation of individual ministries would be finalized soon.
The two parties have also agreed to complete cabinet expansion by Monday once the portfolios are allocated.
The NCP parliamentary party has called a meeting for Saturday to decide which ministries it will take and who will represent the party in the provincial cabinet, said Sapana Darji, the party's parliamentary party whip.
