CPN-UML lawmaker Raghuji Pant has been appointed minister for education, science and technology.

The Office of the President said in a statement on Wednesday evening that President Ramchandra Paudel made changes in the Council of Ministers as recommended by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The post became vacant after Bidya Bhattarai tendered her resignation as minister on Monday.

Pant, a standing committee member of the UML, had earlier served as labour minister.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Oli sacked Minister of State for Energy and Water Resources Purna Bahadur (Kanchharam) Tamang from the post. The decision was communicated via Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak to Tamang, said an aide to the prime minister.

Tamang had differences with Energy Minister Dipak Khadka over the issue of taking action against Kulman Ghising, the former managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority who was also sacked on March 24.

“After disputes between Minister Khadka and Tamang escalated, the state minister was told to resign but he refused,” said a source close to Tamang. As he refused to resign, Tamang was notified that he was sacked from the post.

“I was told to resign but I refused because I have not made any mistake,” Tamang said. “After half an hour, I got a message from the home minister that I was sacked.”

He argued that the prime minister sacked him despite the fact that he was made the state minister by the Congress party. “I should be recalled by the party, not be sacked by the prime minister,” he said.

A supporter of Ghising, Tamang was in favour of giving continuity to him as managing director of the NEA saying that his performance was the best. However, Prime Minister Oli, Energy Minister Khadka and some Cabinet ministers were against giving continuity to Ghising due to his growing misunderstanding with the industrialists over the issue of recovering the unpaid electricity bills.

Khadka and Ghising were at loggerheads over recovering dues worth billions of rupees from industrialists for using dedicated power supply in the past. In the dispute between Khadka and Ghising, state minister Tamang, despite representing the same party, stood in favour of Ghising. Both Tamang and Ghising hail from Ramechhap district.

The relations between Khadka and Tamang never remained cordial since he was appointed state minister for energy in August last year due to the Ghising factor.

Recently, Tamang had sought a written clarification from Energy Secretary Suresh Acharya for not inviting him as a guest at an event of the Department of Irrigation. But Acharya did not furnish any reply to Tamang.