Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda

Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda took oath of office on Thursday for his second innings as the prime minister of Nepal. His first day began with roadblocks in expanding the cabinet as both ruling parties, Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center), witnessed uproar over picking of ministers. Prachanda inducted five ministers- two from Nepali Congress and three from his own party. Bimalendra Nidhi, a prominent Madesh-based leader and senior Nepali Congress politician who played a key role in bringing the Congress and Maoists together, was picked as deputy prime minister and home minister . Nidhi had also helped negotiations with Madeshi parties and singing of the three-point pact with them, which has raised hopes the Madesh issue would be resolved soon. The first cabinet meeting decided on providing immediate relief to the earthquake victims and to send health professionals to various districts to cope with water-induced diseases. It also decided to provide 1,000 rupees each to the families of Dalits and Janajatis for birth registration of their children. “My first priority is to address the demands of Madeshis, Tharu, Janajatis and other communities in constitution and making the new constitution more acceptable to them,” Prachanda said. His other priorities are implementation of the new constitution and expediting the quake reconstruction work. The government will also focus on economic prosperity and job creation, he said.