Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushila Karki has expanded the interim cabinet by appointing three new ministers. Their names were announced on Sunday, and they were sworn in on Monday.
According to media reports, former Finance Secretary Rameshwar Khanal has been appointed Finance Minister, lawyer Om Prakash Aryal has been named Home Minister, and former Executive Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising has been appointed Minister of Energy and Irrigation. Ghising has also been given additional responsibility for Infrastructure, Transport, and Urban Development.
Initially, Advocate Aryal preferred to support the government from outside, but later agreed to take the ministerial post. He recently participated in discussions with President Ram Chandra Paudel, Prime Minister Karki, and representatives of the Gen Z protest movement along with other major political leaders.
Economist Rameshwar Khanal had recently submitted a 447-page report on high-level economic reforms to the former KP Sharma Oli government. Kulman Ghising, who became widely popular for reducing power outages across the country, was controversially removed from his position by the previous Oli administration, which triggered public outrage.
The cabinet reshuffle comes in the wake of two days of nationwide anti-corruption protests under the Gen Z banner, which left at least 70 people dead and caused damage worth hundreds of millions of rupees to public and private property. Prime Minister Karki began consultations on expanding the cabinet on Saturday evening and finalized the appointments on Sunday night.
