Karnali CM Shahi reshuffles Cabinet, three former UML lawmakers inducted as ministers

KATHMANDU, April 18:  The Cabinet of Karnali Province has been reshuffled. After winning the vote of confidence from the province assembly on Friday, Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi reshuffled the Cabinet on Saturday.

In the recent reshuffle, three former lawmakers of the CPN-UML were inducted as the ministers in the Shahi-led Cabinet. Nanda Singh Budha was inducted as the Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives,  Ammar Bahadur Thapa as the Physical Infrastructure Minister and Kurma Raj Shahi as the Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment. These three leaders along with Prakash Jwala had defied the party whip and voted in favor of Shahi, helping the latter remain as the chief minister of the province.

They are being sworn-in as the ministers on Sunday afternoon, according to the CM’s Secretariat. 

The UML on Saturday suspended the three leaders as the lawmakers of the province assembly. They were also relieved as the party members, according to Gorakh Bahadur Bogati, Chairman of UML’s Karnali Province Committee. 

Similarly, Bogati shared that they recommended the central leadership to expel Jwala, who is also a member of the party's national general convention organizing committee, from the party.