Rajendra Pandey has been appointed the new chief minister of Bagmati Province.

Province chief Yadav Chandra Sharma administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pandey amid a function in Hetauda on Thursday.

Pandey, who is the parliamentary party leader of the CPN (Unified Socialist), has the support of the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajbadi Party.

Following his appointment, Pandey formed a four-member Cabinet. Krishna Lal

Bhandel of Nepali Congress has been appointed Physical Infrastructure Minister, Kumari Moktan of CPN (Maoist Centre) Social Development Minister and Krishna Prasad Sharma of CPN (Unified Socialist) Minister for Internal Affairs and Law.

The four provincial ministers took the oath of office on Thursday itself.

After Asta Laxmi Shakya of CPN-UML resigned on Wednesday, the province chief had given the parties until 3pm Thursday to pick a new chief minister.

Pandey laid claim to the post of chief minister with the support of majority members of the provincial assembly as per Article 168 (2) of the constitution. He claimed the coveted post with the signatures of 59 provincial assembly members—23 members from Maoist Centre, 22 from Nepali Congress, 13 from CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal.

The support of 55 members is required in the 109-member assembly to form the provincial government.

After 13 provincial assembly members from the UML defected to the newly formed CPN (Unified Socialist) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal, Shakya’s party fell into a minority in Bagmati.

Shakya, who became the first woman chief minister of Nepal on August 18, resigned on the 71st day of her tenure.

Talking briefly to reporters after his oath, Chief Minister Pandey said the coalition government would work for an effective implementation of the budget and provide business to the provincial assembly.

“The remaining ministries will be appointed from among the coalition partners. We plan to initiate some long-term plans even though the coalition government has a short period of time to work,” said Pandey.

Pandey has become the third chief minister of Bagmati since 2017. Dormani Paudel had been elected the first chief minister after then Nepal Communist Party (NCP) won 81 seats during the provincial assembly elections held in 2017.