Chief Minister (CM) of Gandaki Prithvi Subba Gurung has again taken a swipe at Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli for undermining federalism.
"There is no shortage of people in the Singha Durbar who gossip and use their brain on how to undermine the rights of provinces instead of thinking about how to create conducive environment for provinces to work autonomously," CM Gurung said addressing the third anniversary of the provincial government in Pokhara on Tuesday. "That is the most threatening unseen horror for us."
Gurung, who has repeatedly criticized PM Oli for undermining federalism in the past opined that nobody including the PM understand the concept of federalism. "The local level was there even yesterday. The federal government has been there for eons. Province is the new structure. Shouldn't those who are above understand that?" he asked and pointed that the biggest problem in implementation of federalism is the difference in understanding. "Shouldn't everyone from the PM to ministers, the chief secretary to department chiefs understand that? Lack of that understanding has become a challenge for us."
He complained that he has not received help from the federal government that he had expected while forming the provincial government. He stressed that the provincial government ahs not been allowed to work autonomously and accused the federal government of creating problems everywhere.
CM Gurung, who is in the Oli faction of CPN, had also blasted Oli when he claimed that provincial and local governments are not autonomous and are under the federal government during the discussion on the government's policies and programs in the federal parliament in May 2019 and opined that Oli must correct his statements.
"Provincial and local governments are not units of Nepal government but are federal units instead," Gurung had pointed. When pointed that PM Oli claims they are units of Nepal government, Gurung had fumed "Units of Nepal government? How can that be? They are not units of Nepal government but that of Nepal state."
He had added that Oli's claims are against the spirit of Constitution. "Saying they are units of Nepal government will be against the spirit of Constitution. Provincial and local governments are autonomous as per the Constitution," he had stressed. "PM must correct himself if he has spoken wrong."
