Meeting of ruling coalition taking place today afternoon

KATHMANDU: Top leaders of the ruling coalition are meeting today afternoon to finalize the allocation of ministries.

A meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Baluwatar, on Thursday morning could not finalize the allocation of ministries.

Although the parties have reached an agreement on the number of ministries, the parties have not been able to reach an agreement on which ministry the parties would get.

The leaders will meet again after Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda returns from Chitwan this afternoon.

Nepali Congress (NC) has agreed on, among others, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Defence.

The party has been demanding the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Energy as well.

Prime Minister Dahal, however, has proposed to give the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Education to the Unified Socialist Party.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the 10-party ruling coalition on Wednesday evening had decided to expand the cabinet by Thursday evening.

According to him, nine political parties will participate in the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda-led cabinet.

The Rastriya Janamorcha, however, will not join the cabinet.

The parties will submit the names of ministers to Prime Minister Dahal on Thursday itself.

According to sources, Nepali Congress will get 8 ministries, the Maoist Center 5, JSP and Unified Socialist Party 2 each and other parties will get one ministry each.