Ruling alliance seals power sharing deal; NC to get eight ministries, Maoist and JSP seven each

KATHMANDU, July 29: The ruling alliance has finalized the power sharing deal. 

A meeting of the leaders of the ruling alliance decided to give the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led Cabinet a full shape. 

According the fresh deal, the 61 member-strong Nepali Congress will get eight ministries including PM Deuba. While the CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) will get seven ministries each, the Madhav Nepal faction of the CPN-UML, however, will not join the government immediately. 

The leaders, during their ‘secret’ meeting on Thursday, decided to provide a maximum of opportunities to the Nepal faction in the course of political appointments in various constitutional and government bodies. 

According to a JSP leader, the Cabinet will also have three more ministers of state. 

After discussing with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachadna, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba asked the leaders of the alliance to finalize the power sharing. For that, NC designated Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Purna Bahadur Khadka while Chairman Prachanda and Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha joined the ‘secret’ meeting on behalf of Maoist Center including three Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) leaders ---- Upendra Yadav, Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Ashok Rai.