HETAUDA: Indra Bahadur Baniya has officially taken the oath of office and secrecy as the new Chief Minister of Bagmati Province.

The oath was administered by Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota at a formal ceremony held at the Office of the Province Chief on Tuesday afternoon.

Chief Minister Baniya, who was recently appointed to the position, has formed a nine-member cabinet, including one minister without portfolio.

Bagmati Province currently has 14 ministries under the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers Office.

On Baniya’s recommendation, Province Chief Devkota appointed two ministers from the Nepali Congress and six from the CPN-UML.

The cabinet formation and portfolio allocation were conducted in accordance with Article 168 (9) of the Constitution of Nepal.

From the Nepali Congress, Shivaraj Adhikari and Krishna Kumar Tamang have been inducted as ministers.

While Adhikari’s portfolio is yet to be assigned, Tamang has been given charge of the Ministry of Drinking Water, Energy, and Irrigation. Both are new entrants to the provincial cabinet.

The remaining ministries allocated to the Nepali Congress will be overseen by Chief Minister Baniya himself.

Among the six ministers from the UML, except for Kiran Thapa, all are new faces in the government. Thapa, who served in the previous cabinet led by Bahadur Singh Lama Tamang, will continue as the Minister for Health.

Other UML appointees include Madhusudan Paudel (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Jayaram Thapa (Labour, Employment, and Transport), Bharat Bahadur KC (Forest and Environment), Dr. Dinesh Chandra Devkota (Physical Infrastructure Development), and Bindu Shrestha (Industry, Commerce, Land, and Administration).

All newly appointed ministers took the oath in the presence of Chief Minister Baniya. With this arrangement, the Nepali Congress holds the Chief Minister’s Office and eight ministries, while the UML controls six ministries.

Previously, the two largest parties in the provincial assembly—Nepali Congress and UML—had reached a power-sharing agreement to lead the government alternately for the remaining tenure, with each party holding the Chief Minister’s post for 20 months.

Bahadur Singh Lama Tamang of the Nepali Congress had already served for over 12 months.

If the agreement holds, Baniya is expected to serve as Chief Minister until March next year.