The members of the 500-strong executive of the Nepali Congress (NC) resigned en masse after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala appointed the five ministers on Tuesday after his victory in a parliamentary vote of confidence.

The protestors said the ministers, who served in a previous administration, had become ``a liability for the NC party,'' the source said. One of the ministers appointed on Tuesday had resigned following the protest, the source said, and the committee members had called on Koirala to sack the rest to maintain a ``clean image of the NC party in government.''

The mass resignation followed a boycott of parliament by 44 NC deputies in protest against Koirala's failure to give them jobs and over the appointment of the ministers, some of whom are facing corruption charges.

Koirala, who is leading aminority government, urged his colleagues to return as they were ``giving a very bad name to the party.''

Meanwhile, the main Opposition Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist, which had backed Koirala in the confidence motion, expressed resentment over the ministerial appointments.