3 NCP ministers appointed to Lumbini Provincial Cabinet

Three ministers from the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) have been appointed to the Lumbini Provincial Government, following a recommendation from Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya. Dipendra Kumar Pun will lead the Ministry of Health, Indrajit Tharu the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, and Krishna Kushma Tharu the Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives.

The new ministers are scheduled to take their oaths of office and secrecy on Tuesday afternoon at the Office of the Provincial Chief in Butwal. This cabinet reshuffling aligns with a prior agreement to distribute ministerial positions among the CPN-UML, NCP, and Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal.

Under the agreement, the CPN-UML will have four ministers, including the chief minister, while the NCP will have three, and the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal, will have two. Several other members of the cabinet have also been recommended for various portfolios, including the Ministry of Forests, Environment and Tourism, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Urban Development, Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Law, Industry and Transport. Some ministers are moving to new portfolios, with Ghimire shifting from Health to Social Development, Chaudhary from Agriculture to Forests, and Pandey from Social Development to Urban Development.