Former prime minister (PM) Baburam Bhattarai has said he is ready to face punishment if his intentional implication in Baluwatar land grab is established.
Speaking at the start of budget session of the parliament on Monday, Naya Shakti Nepal Convenor Bhattarai said the roots of the grabbing of government land of Lalita Niwas in Baluwatar should be found instead of indulging in allegations and counter-allegations.
"Many PMs and council of ministers have been dragged in the Baluwatar scam. There are reports that wrong decisions were taken by the Cabinets of sage leader of Nepali Congress (NC) and the then PM Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Madhav Kumar Nepal considered to be relatively clean in the then CPN-UML, and Baburam Bhattarai of the then Maoists for whom you have lovingly created a clean image at different times," Bhattarai stated. "Mere good intention of an individual apparently does not suffice. We must be punished if we had intentional implication in the scam. I am ready to accept the punishment."
He also demanded serious investigation in the land grab. "Let us get to its roots and excavate how worthless our institutions are due to corruption," he demanded. "We cannot rid the country of corruption no matter how clean we are as individuals unless we reform the institutions and laws."
He also demanded investigation in procurement of wide-body planes by the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), Budhigandaki Hydropower Project.
