Kathmandu, Oct 8 (PTI) Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Friday expanded his Cabinet by inducting 17 ministers and two ministers of state from the five-party ruling alliance, three months after he assumed office.

With this, the government's strength has now reached 25, including 22 ministers and three ministers of state.

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Earlier, there were only six members in the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister and one state minister.

Prime Minister Deuba was unable to expand his Cabinet due to prolonged power sharing negotiations among the five-party ruling alliance. He himself was heading 17 ministries.

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Five ministers have been inducted from newly formed CPN-Unified Socialist, four ministers and one minister of state from Madhes-based Janata Socialist Party and 5 ministers and one minister of state from CPN-Maoist Centre led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda".

Similarly, Nepali Congress led by Deuba got eight ministers and one minister of state, according to sources at the President's Office.

Bal Krishna Khand of Nepali Congress has retained the portfolio of Home, while Narayan Khadka of the same party has retained the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Kadhka was last month appointed as the Foreign Minister by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Similarly, Minendra Rijal and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki of Nepali Congress have got the ministries of Defence and Information and Communication respectively.

Birodh Khatiwada of CPN-Unified Socialist has been appointed as Minister for Health and Population.

Janardan Sharma of CPN-Maoist Centre has retained the ministry of Finance.

The five-party ruling coalition includes Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and CPN (Maoist Centre).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)