Two days after her appointment as head of the interim government, Prime Minister Sushila Karki expanded her Cabinet by inducting three ministers on Sunday.

She has picked former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal as finance minister, noted lawyer Om Prakash Aryal as home minister, and former executive director of the Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising as energy and irrigation minister.

Ghising also has been assigned responsibility for two other ministries—Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Urban Development.

An aide to Karki told the Post that preparations are underway to administer the oath of office to the new ministers on Monday.

The prime minister told her inner circle that she would limit the Cabinet size to 15 members during these difficult times, the aide said. Other ministers will be appointed gradually, as she has already expedited consultations.

“There was pressure to appoint someone as home and finance minister in order to restore normalcy, instill hope among various stakeholders, including the business community, and give the public a sense of relief. That is why she picked some of the best people with proven professional integrity,” the aide who regularly advises the prime minister, told the Post.

Advocate Aryal had initially expressed his desire to support the government by remaining outside, but only later agreed to join, the aide said. He was also part of negotiations between President Ramchandra Paudel, Prime Minister Karki, Gen Z representatives, and leaders of the major parties after last week’s protests to end the current logjam.

Over 70 citizens have already died in two-day anti-corruption protests held under the banner of Gen Z. Public and private properties worth hundreds of billions were destroyed or set on fire across the country last Monday and Tuesday.

Not long ago, Khanal had submitted a 447-page report to the KP Sharma Oli government in his capacity as the chairperson of the High-Level Economic Reform Recommendation Commission.

Ghising, widely praised for significantly reducing load-shedding in the country, was removed as NEA executive director by the previous Oli government after a long tussle.

Despite public outrage, the Oli government replaced him with Hitendra Dev Shakya.

Karki started consultations on expanding her Cabinet on Saturday evening. On Sunday evening, she finalised the decision for advocate Aryal to take charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

Karki had already confirmed the appointments of Khanal as finance minister and Ghising as energy minister earlier in the day.