The expansion of the cabinet is said to have been on the recommendation of the prime minister, but our sources say his nominees were, in fact, totally ignored. Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand had forwarded four names from his own party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), on the morning of 18 November. None of them were included in the cabinet expansion announced later the same day. Sources close to Chand named the four as Jog Meher Shrestha, Dipak Bohora, Prem Bahadur Bhandari and Ram Krishna Acharya.

At present, the prime minister functions more like a personal assistant. His main responsibility is to implement decisions made somewhere else. He was told about the expansion in his own cabinet only a few minutes prior to the official announcement. Prime Minister Chand has been deprived of all his decision-making powers-he cannot even transfer or grant promotions to civil servant. His rights are confined to posting non-officer level civil servants.