BIRATNAGAR: The newly appointed Chief Minister of Koshi Province Kedar Karki officially assumed office as he took the oath of office and secrecy on Sunday.

The ceremony was administered by Province Chief Parashuram Khapung this afternoon.

In addition to Karki, Ram Bahadur Rana from the CPN-UML and Shumsher Rai from the Nepali Congress were also sworn in as ministers. Rana, the deputy leader of the UML’s Koshi province parliamentary party, and Rai of NC, who had endorsed Karki as the Chief Minister, were both appointed as ministers without specific portfolios.

Karki had faced pressure from the UML to appoint two ministers on the same day, and he had initially intended to select two ministers each from the UML and the NC. However, after some disagreements over ministerial positions, Karki ultimately appointed one minister from the UML and one from NC’s Shekhar Koirala faction.

Karki, a legislator from the NC, had broken ranks with the party’s decision to support Indra Angbo of the CPN-Maoist Center as the Chief Minister candidate. Instead, he filed his candidacy with support from the UML.