Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who resigned on Tuesday following allegation of raping a woman working at the federal parliament secretariat on Sunday, will have to resign again.
He sent a letter in capacity of speaker addressing Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe Tuesday afternoon offering to resign with immediate effect but has not specified the position from which he has resigned.
The ruling CPN earlier on Tuesday asked him to resign from the position of both lawmaker and speaker following rape allegation.
A CPN leader said he should again resign from the position of lawmaker even if this resignation sent on the letterhead of speaker is considered to be resignation from speaker.
Nobody should accept the resignation by the speaker but the deputy speaker should accept the resignation if he resigns as lawmaker. "He must resign as lawmaker. The party will not treat him as lawmaker if he does not," the leader stated.
"I have resigned on moral grounds effective from today till the investigation process is completed to facilitate fact-based, fair and independent investigation following allegations of different media outlets since yesterday raising serious questions about my character," the resignation letter issued by Mahara on Tuesday reads.
The emergency secretariat meeting held at the prime minister's (PM) residence in Baluwatar earlier in the afternoon asked Mahara to resign. "The party has decided that Mahara should resign from speaker and lawmaker to facilitate investigation," CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said after the emergency secretariat meeting.
PM and CPN Chairman KP Sharma Oli earlier discussed the issue with another Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Speaker Mahara has been accused of raping a woman working at the federal parliament secretariat on Sunday.
The woman has claimed an inebriated Mahara reached her rented apartment in Tinkune with a bottle of whiskey when there was no one else in the apartment Sunday night and raped her.
