PM Koirala to expand cabinet without including CPN-UML members

A meeting of the working committee of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party on Friday discussed the distribution of portfolios, Mahat said.

Koirala also consulted senior leaders of the party, including former premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, regarding the distribution of portfolios, he said.

Besides the home and finance ministries, the Nepali Congress is expected to retain the foreign ministry.  Without the CPN-UML's support, the government's position will be shaky as the Nepali Congress has only 194 seats in the 601-member Constituent Assembly.

The government also needs the CPN-UML's support to present the budget for the new fiscal in July.

Sources said the Unified CPN-Maoist is likely to back the government from outside if the CPN-UML withdraws support due to differences over the sharing of power.

Maoist chairman Prachanda had hinted about this during a recent meeting with Koirala, the sources said.