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NC lawmakers want change of guard
KATHMANDU, FEB 08 -
Frustrated by what they call a “humiliating” presence of their party in the CPN-UML-led government, Nepali Congress (NC) lawmakers have started piling pressure on the party leadership to mull over a change of guard.
During a heated discussion at the NC Parliamentary Party (PP) meeting at the PP office in Singhadurbar on Monday, some Congress lawmakers said it was time the party leadership reviewed the rationale behind the NC’s participation in the UML-led coalition and thought about an alternative.
“Monday’s meeting saw overwhelming frustration among lawmakers over the performance of the government in general and NC representatives in particular,” NC Parliamentary Party Spokesman Nabindra Raj Joshi said. “Some lawmakers wondered why party leaders should shy away from holding discussions on toppling the government.”
The lawmakers rued that ministers representing the NC had failed to stand for the party due to the presence of a ‘powerful’ UML squad in the government. The failure of NC ministers to secure key positions, including that of the governor and heads of constitutional commissions for party loyalists also displeased them.
“There is growing dissatisfaction within the party over the ministers’ failure to stand for the party’s agendas,” said an NC lawmaker.
The speakers also touched upon the probable hike in electricity tariff.
Most lawmakers spoke against the possible hike, maintaining that such a hike would only add to the woes of the people, who have had to bear with ever-increasing load-shedding hours.
Last week, Energy Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat had announced that his ministry was mulling a hike in power tariff to help Nepal Electricity Authority overcome a financial crisis. Mahat proposed providing subsidy to the needy as in petroleum products.
Condemning the murder of media entrepreneur Jamim Shah, the NC PP meeting concluded that the incident had raised a serious question over the Home Ministry’s security arrangements in the Capital and outside. “The meeting concluded that the party should urge the government to immediately find facts and inform the people and the House,” Joshi said. The meeting also extended condolence to the bereaved family.
On the issues of statute-writing and army integration, the lawmakers urged the party leadership to stay firm on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which has it that Army integration will be completed within six months and the statute will be drafted within two years of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly.
Pointing at the weakening security situation, they questioned the absence of the chiefs of all the three security organs, the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department. They had accompanied Home Minister Bhim Rawal to China.
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