CPN standing committee member Bhim Rawal has demanded that Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli should inform the ruling party about his meeting with Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Samant Kumar Goel.
RAW Chief Goel arrived in Kathmandu on an Indian Air Force plane Wednesday afternoon and met with PM Oli at Baluwatar for around three hours in the night.
"We had agreed in the CPN standing committee meeting that discussions will be held about any sensitive national issues in the party, form common position and the government would move forward accordingly. But the party decision has been violated now," Rawal told Setopati. "I believe the standing committee will meet after violation of its decision and such things about sensitive national issue has come out. The party chairmen must call the meeting, inform us about these things and also listen to what we say. They should also clarify why the decision of standing committee was violated."
Rawal has already slammed Oli for the meeting. "How PM had a dialogue with Indian intelligence RAW chief (sic) and the time and manner the visit was made against the foreign policy directed by the Constitution of Nepal, sovereignty and self-respect, and the ideology, policy and declaration of CPN that is leading the government is objectionable," Rawal had tweeted the next day, and he reiterated his objection on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali has since stated publicly that Goel had arrived as a special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi but Rawal claimed that Goel cannot be called a special envoy and pointed how the Indian External Affairs Ministry or any government body has not issued any statement or press note about Goel visiting Nepal as special envoy.
He also pointed how PM's press advisor Surya Thapa had said on Thursday that Goel made a courtesy call to PM Oli at Baluwatar before Minister Gyawali called Goel a special envoy and remarked that lies cannot be congruous to truth.
He insisted that the meeting cannot be called right even if informal talks can be held as part of peaceful diplomacy when there are problems in bilateral relation.
PM Oli's meeting with Goel has been slammed by the opposition parties and many leaders in the ruling party alike.
Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Gagan Thapa has opined that the meeting showed there is threat to national security from the PM himself. "The PM meeting a foreign intelligence chief in absence of the Foreign Ministry and Nepali security agencies is an issue of national security and not just diplomatic protocol," Thapa has said issuing a statement on Friday. "This non-political 'courtesy call' of PM with a spy must be investigated. This episode has showed that there is threat to national security from the PM himself."
CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha has also called the meeting wrong.
