Surya Bahadur Thapa, who had formed a coalition of Congress, his own party, the RPP, the Sadbhavana Party, and independent MPs, reorganized the cabinet to 47 members within about two months of becoming Prime Minister. This was one of the largest cabinets in Nepal's history.
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The game of toppling the government, sustaining it, and making as many MPs as possible ministers and becoming the prime minister continued from Bhadra 2052 to Asoj 2054. After the mid-term elections in 2051, 4 prime ministers had become prime ministers in 3 years.
The perverse form of the non-parliamentary game in the name of sustaining and sustaining the prime minister was rampant. However, the situation was getting worse rather than stopping. As another series of distortions, Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa was appointed prime minister on Asoj 21, 2054 after removing Lokendra Bahadur Chand, the leader of the parliamentary party of his own party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, from a no-confidence motion.
Congress removed UML, Chand removed Congress, and Surya Bahadur of the same party became prime minister after removing Chand. Surya Bahadur was appointed prime minister, but he could not complete the council of ministers for two months. The reason for that was the same, ‘inability to agree on the distribution of ministers’. Since there were many ministerial aspirants, the parties were unable to finalize the number of ministers internally. If the MPs could not be pleased, the government was in danger of collapsing. Chand had said when he resigned as Prime Minister, ‘A rat MP can sink his own boat by making a hole in it.’ He had predicted that this tendency would always be exposed.
Therefore, Surya Bahadur was forced to give a minister to a particular MP. If he did not, he would be warned that the government would be toppled. According to experts, at that time, there was a ‘bargaining’ that the ministers wanted the ministry of their choice, the assistants wanted the state and the state wanted the cabinet minister. The government led by RPP Chairman Surya Bahadur with the support of the Congress was also formed by misleading the MPs in many ways, showing greed and greed. The cabinet expansion took 2 months due to the failure to manage the party-based conflict within the Congress and the RPP and the assurances given to the lawmakers while supporting the government. ![[Archive] Distorted practice of party allocation: The 47-member cabinet](https://assets-cdn.ekantipur.com/uploads/source/news/kantipur/2026/miscellaneous/page1kpr-mansir-19-2054-2252026041533-1000x0.jpg)
Surya Bahadur had reorganized the cabinet to 47 members within about 2 months of becoming the Prime Minister by combining the Congress, his party, the RPP, the Sadbhavana Party, and independent lawmakers. This was also one of the largest cabinet formations in the history of Nepal. Earlier, the cabinet formed by Sher Bahadur Deuba on Bhadra 27, 2052 had 51 members. At that time, there were 27 ministers, 16 ministers of state, and 8 assistant ministers. During the prime ministership of senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, a 49-member cabinet was formed on Bhadra 12, 2068. During Deuba's prime ministership, the cabinet formed on Jestha 24, 2074 was expanded and reached 64 members by Asoj 31.
The unstable character of the MPs and internal conflict
The biggest problem in the parliamentary history from 2051 to 2054 was the unstable character of the RPP MPs, who were considered decisive in government formation . The unstable character of the RPP and independent MPs had also increased under Surya Bahadur Kopal, who became the Prime Minister on 21 Asoj 2054.
Reconciling the MPs divided between the party president Girija Prasad Koirala and former president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai within the Congress was equally challenging . The Sher Bahadur Deuba government could be estimated to what extent the internal conflict existed due to the absence of two Congress MPs in the vote in parliament.
If all the independent MPs were not made ministers, the number of ministers to form the government would not have been sufficient . Therefore, Surya Bahadur made all the five MPs who had won as independents but had joined the Congress ministers in the council of ministers he expanded on 18 Mangsir 2054. The Congress had 28 ministers, assistant ministers and ministers of state, including independents. The RPP had 20 seats in Parliament. There was one deputy speaker. The remaining 19 were MPs. Of these, 17, including the Prime Minister, were included in the Council of Ministers. Only 2 MPs from the RPP were out. Five were ministers without portfolio in the Council of Ministers. There were 15 ministers of state and 5 assistant ministers in the Council of Ministers. The Congress alone had 13 ministers of state. Khum Bahadur Khadka, Prakash Man Singh, Mahant Thakur, Vijay Kumar Gachhadar, Siddha Raj Ojha and others became ministers from the Congress. The Prime Minister was always worried about saving the government. Because it was not known when the MPs would go to whose support.
Former Congress President Krishna Prasad Bhattarai resigned after expressing dissatisfaction with the reorganization of the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee. He resigned from the Central Working Committee, expressing disagreement with President Koirala's views and working style. He submitted his resignation to General Secretaries Taranath Ranabhat and Basu Risal. In his resignation, which he submitted on 18 Mangsir 2011, he wrote, 'I have been expressing my disagreement with your views and the working style accordingly for a long time, both publicly and personally. Now they have increased, not decreased. In this context, I consider it inappropriate to remain a mute spectator in the Central Working Committee and am writing this letter from that esteemed committee and submitting my humble resignation to your service.'
He had requested that his resignation be accepted. The resignation of Bhattarai, the party's founding general secretary and party president for 18 years, had caused a stir in the party. Sources said that he also complained that Koirala did not consult him on the ministers to be included in the cabinet. Bhattarai was dissatisfied when Koirala started doing whatever he wanted. Bhattarai's side said that he did not consult him on important issues, including power sharing. Koirala had nominated 13 members of the party's central committee on the day the cabinet was formed. After Bhattarai resigned, Koirala started internal discussions. Koirala, who had gone to Ilam for that, returned to Kathmandu.
When doubts arose about whether the party would split, he returned to Kathmandu to prevent it. Bhattarai's close associates said that Koirala did not consult him on the cabinet reshuffle and nominations to the central committee. Kantipur Daily had published separate news items on Mangsir 19, 2054 under the headlines 'Thapa Cabinet Reorganization' and 'Bhattarai's Resignation from Congress Central Committee', focusing on the Jumbo Cabinet reorganized under the leadership of Surya Bahadur after a 2-month-long dispute, and Krishna Prasad's resignation from the Central Committee.
Presentation: Rishiram Paudyal
![[Archive] Distorted practice of party allocation: The 47-member cabinet](https://assets-cdn-api.ekantipur.com/thumb.php?src=https://assets-cdn.ekantipur.com/uploads/source/news/kantipur/2026/miscellaneous/page1kpr-mansir-photo-2252026041415-1000x0.jpg&w=1001&h=0)