Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepal's prime minister-elect, to keep cabinet small: Report

Sher Bahadur Deuba was named as the prime minister of Nepal a day ago after the country's supreme court reinstated the dissolved House for the second time in five months and asked president Bidya Devi Bhandari to ensure that the NC leader is appointed as the prime minister within two days.

Sher Bahadur Deuba, set to take his oath on Tuesday as the new Prime Minister of Nepal, will reportedly form a small cabinet initially, with some five to seven members comprising representatives from the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre). Later, the Upendra Yadav-led faction of the Janata Samajwadi Party will join the government, news agency PTI reported, citing a party leader.

Nepal's prime minister-elect Sher Bahadur Deuba (File Photo / Reuters)

Sher Bahadur Deuba was named as the Prime Minister of Nepal a day ago after the country's Supreme Court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months and asked President Bidya Devi Bhandari to ensure that the NC leader is appointed as the PM within two days.

Deuba will succeed KP Sharma Oli amid a political crisis that has plagued Nepal’s administrative machinery for months.

The new Prime Minister of Nepal will keep his cabinet small, PTI reported, citing CPN-Maoist Centre leader Ganesh Shah. However, it is not yet certain if the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) will join the Deuba government since the Madhav Kumar Nepal faction of the party had earlier severed its ties with the opposition.

On the other hand, Nepal's incumbent prime minister KP Sharma Oli referred to the top court's move to reinstate the dissolved House of Representatives as "unconstitutional". A large number of Oli's supporters gathered at the supreme court premises on Monday evening and shouted slogans against the verdict which made Deuba the new prime minister of the country.