Province no.1 chief extends cabinet

A day after his appointment and swearing-in ceremony, Chief Minister (CM) of Province-1 has extended his cabinet. He has added two ministers.

Laxman Tiwari, the directly elected Provincial Assembly member from Tehrathum constituency number 1 (a), and Bal Bahadur Samsohang, another directly elected Province Assemblymember from Taplejung constituency number 1 (a) are inducted into the Acharya cabinet as the new ministers.

Tiwari is appointed as the Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment, and Samsohang as Minister for Social Development

Both of them were sworn in by Province Chief Somnath Adhikari (Pyashi) Friday afternoon.

On Thursday noon, Chief Minister of Province-1, Sherdhan Rai, resigned from his three and half-year-long tenure as the first Chief Minister of Province-1 and the longest-serving CM from the CPN (UML) party paving the way for Bhim Acharya to be the second CM of the province.

Both ministers, including CM, represent the erstwhile Madhav Nepal faction of CPN (UML) who formed his own party CPN (Unified Socialist) which got its registration on August 25 from the Election Commission. Only three Province Assembly members of Province-1 namely, Rajendra Rai, Rajan Rai, and Ganesh Kumar Kambang are openly aligned to CPN (Unified Socialist).