Veteran Communist leader K.P. Sharma Oli was on Monday sworn in as Nepal’s 38th Prime Minister, a day after he was elected in Parliament with support from smaller parties, even as the country is grappling with political unrest over the new Constitution.
Mr. Oli, 63, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Baran Yadav at his official residence here. He also has formed a small Cabinet incorporating two Deputy Prime Ministers and five ministers as he chaired his first Cabinet meeting here.
Allocating ministries Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and Kamal Thapa were sworn in as Deputy Prime Ministers. The two are said to have been rewarded for their support to Mr. Oli in Parliament.
Mr. Gachhadar, the president of Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum Democratic, a key Madhesi party, has been allocated with the portfolio of Physical Planning and Transport while Mr. Thapa, president of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal received the portfolio of Foreign Affairs.
The five other ministers included in Oli’s cabinet are Agni Kharel, Satya Narayan Mandal, Som Pandey, Haribol Gajurel and Ram Kumar Subba.
Mr. Oli, who will now have to deal with challenges such as protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the country’s new Constitution, was on Sunday elected Nepal’s new Prime Minister after comfortably defeating former premier and Nepali Congress chief Sushil Koirala.
In a poll held in Parliament, the Communist Party of Nepal — Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) chairman Oli garnered 338 votes, 39 more than the 299 that he needed to be elected Prime Minister while Mr. Koirala could secure only 249 votes. A total of 587 members cast their votes. Lawmakers were not allowed to stay neutral during voting.
While Mr. Oli was backed by UCPN-Maoist, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic and some fringe parties, four Madhes parties in the United Democratic Madhesi Front supported Nepali Congress leader Mr. Koirala, who himself became Prime Minister with the support from the CPN-UML in 2014.
