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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is going to appoint three ministers without portfolio.

Prime Minister Dahal met President Ram Chandra Paudel this afternoon and informed that he will form a three-member Cabinet, a Baluwatar source said.

He requested the President to prepare for the swearing in ceremony.

The Prime Minister reached the President's following an agreement to form a federal government from the new equation of the CPN-UML.

Padam Giri from CPN-UML, Hit Bahadur Tamang from the CPN (Maoist Center) and DP Aryal from the Rastriya Swatantra Party will be appointed as ministers without portfolio.

President Ram Chandra Paudel reached the west gate of the Singhadurbar this morning and offered floral tributes to King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the unifier of modern Nepal.

On the occasion, a band of the Nepal Army presented a guard of honor to the President.

During the event, dignitaries from different walks of life also offered floral tributes on the statue of King Prithvi Narayan Shah.

The 302nd birth anniversary of King Prithvi Narayan Shah is being celebrated across the country today by organizing a variety of programmes to commemorate the contributions of King Shah for the unification process of modern Nepal.

President Ram Chandra Paudel received Dashain tika, jamara, prasad and blessings from his sister-in-law, 91-year-old Bishnu Maya Paudel, on the occasion of the Bada Dashain festival today.

On the occasion, the President also received tika, jamara and prasad from the priest at the President House.  President Paudel received the tika and prasad at the auspicious hour of 11:2 am at the President House, Shital Niwas here.

After receiving the Dashain tika, he offered tika to the members of his family.

The President is scheduled to offer tika and prasad to VVIPs and VIPs from 2pm to 3pm and to the general public from 3pm to 5pm today on the occasion of the Bijaya Dashami.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called on President Ram Chandra Paudel on Monday.

During the meeting held at the Office of the President, Shital Niwas, the head of the government apprised the head of the state of his upcoming participation in the United Nations General Assembly and the China visit, according to President's press advisor Kiran Pokhrel.

On the occasion, the two exchanged views on other contemporary affairs, it has been learnt.

House of Representatives Speaker Devraj Ghimire and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina met President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday.

During the meeting, President Paudel expressed his concern over the continuous obstruction in the Parliament.

Earlier on Thursday, President Paudel had held a meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

They had briefed the President about the House deadlock and the role of political parties.

Ghimire and Timilsina had urged the President to take an initiative to convince the opposition parties to lift the obstruction as the guardian.

They urged President Paudel to hold a discussion with all the political parties as the guardian.

In response, President Paudel said that all the parties should be united to protect the Constitution.

Following the request of Ghimire and Timilsina, President Paudel assured that he will hold a discussion with the political parties to end the House deadlock.

The main opposition CPN-UML has been obstructing the Parliament proceedings demanding formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the latest gold smuggling case.

President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday authenticated the bill aimed at taking action against loan sharks.

The President’s Office said that President Paudel certified the bill ‘to amend some other Nepal Acts including Civil Code 2080.

President Paudel authenticated the bill endorsed by both the Houses as per Article 113 (2) of the Constitution.

It will get the legal status after it is published in the Nepal gazette.

Born to Durga Prasad and Hrishimaya Poudel on 14 Oct 1944 in Tanahun, Ram Chandra Paudel completed his schooling from Nandiratri Secondary School, Naxal, Kathmandu in 1963. He has a master’s degree in arts from Tribhuvan University. He is married to Sabita Poudel and they have four daughters and a son.

Paudel was inspired to join the democratic movement at the age of 16 after the dissolution of the  popularly elected parliament and imprisonment of leaders including then prime minister BP Koirala in Dec 1960. He was associated with the Armed Insurrection Movement for the restoration of democracy, and initiated the students’ movement in 1962. Paudel was given a role in organizing Nepal Student Union in 1970 and got elected as a senior member of the committee of the union. His national political career began in 1977 after he was elected a member of the Nepali Congress Tanahun District Committee. Soon he rose the ranks and became the vice-president and president of the district committee.

In 1983, he was made the coordinator of the Nepali Congress’s Central Publicity Committee. Paudel went on to become a member of the Central Committee member of the party and was made the chief of its central level Publicity Bureau in 1987. In the general election of 1991, he was elected a Member of Parliament from Tanahun-1. He served as the minister for local development and agriculture for around three years. Poudel was reelected from Tanahun-2 In 1994.

This time he was elected the speaker of the House of Representatives (lower house) and served until 1998. He also served as Minister for Home and Deputy Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002. In 2006, after the Maoists joined peaceful politics, Paudel was appointed the coordinator of the Peace Secretariat that included representatives from top political parties. He was appointed Minister for Peace and Reconstruction in 2007.

In between, he was made the General Secretary of the Nepali Congress’ Central Committee and was later promoted to Vice-president of the same committee in 2007. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the first Constituent Assembly from Tanahun-2 and was elected as Parliamentary Party Leader of Nepali Congress.

After Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned from the post of prime minister in 2009, Poudel contested for the post of premier for 13 times, but failed to pass the threshold. Poudel was elected the vice-president of Nepali Congress from the 12th general convention of the party. He served as the acting president of the party after the demise of then party president Sushil Koirala.

Paudel was elected as a Member of Constituent Assembly from Tanahun-2 in 2013 and Member of Parliament in 2022. He was defeated in the parliamentary election in 2017 by CPN-UML candidate Krishna Kumar Shrestha.

In his political career, Paudel was detained and jailed several times. The longest time he spent in jail was from 1971 to 1975 for being involved in various activities of the student movement, soon after the release of deposed Prime Minister BP Koirala from Sundarijal Jail. He was charged for taking part in a protest program against the Ramailo Jhoda scandal (Morang). In this period, BP Koirala met him at Central Jail and told him not to be distracted, which inspired Paudel to lead the democratic movement, he often says. It was there that Paudel met Koirala for the first time.

He has also published a few books: ‘A Brief history of Nepali Congress’, ‘Democratic Socialism A Study’, ‘What does the Nepali Congress say?’ and ‘Agrarian Revolution and Socialism’ among others. Within the party, Paudel is known as a coordinator and moderate leader. He also played a moderate role in the historic negotiations and consensus to bring the Maoists into mainstream politics and is also known as the drafters of the 12 points Consensus and Comprehensive Peace Agreement.