The secretariat meeting called by ruling CPN for Tuesday to discuss the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has been postponed.
CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel told Setopati that the meeting has been postponed as the discussion on the budget has yet to be finished and the Constitution amendment bill is also set to be presented to the House for deliberation on Tuesday.
A meeting between CPN Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli and fellow Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on June 7 had decided to call secretariat meeting.
CPN has already decided to stop all works related to the MCC until it is endorsed by the House.
The ruling CPN is divided on the issue of MCC. Many including Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal are unhappy about the projects under it being included in the government's policies and programs and then the budget, and want to take a decision on the MCC in the party.
But Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has been pointing that the MCC, which the main opposition party Nepali Congress has already urged the government to pass, has already been tabled in the House and it will be decided by the House and not political parties.
CPN had hotly debated MCC during the standing committee meeting in December 2019 with the erstwhile Maoists and those from Madhav Kumar Nepal faction opposing it saying it should only be passed if it becomes clear that it is not part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy floated by America.
The US embassy in Kathmandu later issued a 10-point statement clarifying that the MCC is not part of military affairs.
The press statement, which it said was in response to a large number of queries from Nepali citizens, politicians, and members of the media about the MCC, claimed that every Nepali government since 2012 has been in favor of the MCC and that there is no military component to the compact.
The issue was raised even during the central committee meeting that concluded on February 2 and the party formed a task force to address the issue. The party formed the task force led by senior leader Jhala Nath Khanal and including Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali and standing committee member Bhim Rawal as members on February 2 to study MCC to find out whether it is part of the American military strategy or not.
The task force recommended that it should not be endorsed without amendment.
