KATHMANDU: The cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held today.
The meeting will be held at 11 am at the Prime Minister’s residence, among others, to make the decision to recommend Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Vice Chairman Bam Dev Gautam to President Bidya Devi Bhandari for his appointment as a member of the National Assembly.
Earlier on Thursday, the secretariat meeting of the main ruling NCP had decided to nominate Gautam as a National Assembly member, a post that has been lying vacant for six months after the two-year tenure of Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada came to an end in March.
According to a constitutional provision, three members, including at least one woman, are to be nominated by the President in a 59-member National Assembly based on the recommendation of the Government of Nepal.
Along with Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Bimala Rai Poudyal have also been appointed as National Assembly members by President Bhandari based upon the recommendation of the cabinet.
Khatiwada’s two-year tenure in the National Assembly, which was based on a lottery system, had expired in March.
However, Prime Minister Oli has decided to allow Khatiwada to continue as Finance Minister based on a constitutional provision that allows him to tap into non-parliamentary members as a minister for six months. However, Khatiwada’s six-month tenure as Finance Minister will be coming to an end on Saturday.
Despite his interest in nominating Khatiwada again, Oli had been facing pressure from the party to appoint Gautam instead.
The appointment of Gautam now marks an end of Khatiwada’s tenure as the Finance Minister.
