President Girija Prasad Koirala Tuesday expanded the central committee of the ruling Nepali Congress Party by nominating five members, an announcement said.

Dil Bahadur Gharti, Ram Krishna Tamrakar, Sunil Kumar Bhandary, Farmulla Mansur and Purna Kumar Sharma are the new nominees; they are Koirala loyalists. Former Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi was appointed joint General Secretary while Mahanta Thakur has been appointed Treasurer.

Arjun Narsingh K.C. has been appointed party spokesman to succeed Narahari Acharya who resigned following a controversial statement. Koirala also appointed five regional coordinators.

Kul Bahadur Gurung was nominated to oversee the eastern region, Dr.Ram Baran Yadav will look after the central region, Ram Krishna Tamrakar will co-ordinate activities of the western region, Baldev Sharma Majgaiya will look after the mid-western region and Bijaya Dhoj Chand will oversee the far western region.

Party president Koirala also reshuffled different central departments of the party and nominated central committee members as heads of these departments. Following are the heads of different central departments of the Nepali Congress:

Krishna Prasad Sitaula    –   Organisation department

Dil Bahadur Gharti           –   Coordination department

Chakra Prasad Bastola    –   International Affairs department

Narahari Acharya             –  Publicity department

Ram Chandra Poudel       –  Policy and Programme department

Laxman Ghimire              –  Training department

Ram Sharan Mahat          –  Research and Evaluation department

Arjun Nar Singh KC          –  Intellectual and Professional department