KATMANDU, Jan. 8 -- Seeking to save his shaky government, Nepal's prime minister has brought back into his Cabinet a group of rebel ministers who voted against him in a failed no-confidence motion last month. Kamal Thapa, Ram Krishna Acharya, Rajiv Parajuli, Mahendra Rayaand Prem Bhandari returned Wednesday, just one month after resigning to vote against Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba ('Shehr' BAH'-hah-door Doo'- bah') in Parliament.
They represent the rightist Rashtriya Prajatantra party -- a partner in the Deuba's three-party ruling coalition. A palace announcement says King Birendra ('bee-REHN'-druh') reshuffled the government on Deuba's recommendation. Deuba says he will seek a formal vote of confidence during a winter session of Parliament. He lost his majority last month because of defections from the coalition and almost had to step down. Although the opposition garnered 101 votes in a no-confidence, that fell two short of the 103 needed to bring down the government. Deuba went ahead with the move to bring back the rebel ministers Wednesday despite protests from a section of his own party. One legislator from the Nepali Congress party, Druba Sharma, said: 'We welcome their support for the government, but we are against their induction into government. This is immoral.' ---
Copyright 1997 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
