Deputy General Secretary of CPN-UML Bishnu Rimal has claimed that party leader Bhim Rawal has been used as a front man to depict UML has double standards on the issue of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Speaking with Setopati Monday morning Rimal, who was chief advisor to the then prime minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli whose government registered the motion for ratification of the MCC Compact in the House in June 2019, claimed that the main opposition party has clear position on the MCC but the House lacks environment for it to present its position there.
"MCC should have been tabled in the House and it happened. The MCC Compact was registered in the House when there was our government. We haven't hidden that," Rimal stated. "But they are now erecting a front man to show that UML has dual character. Why did they allow Bhim Rawal to speak in the House yesterday?"
He claimed that Rawal spoke on the floor on Sunday without permission from the parliamentary party despite the protocol of informing parliamentary party leader or deputy leader or chief whip when a party's representative speaks in the House.
"They are staging a drama to show that UML has double and triple characters by erecting fake persons. They are bringing Rawal as a front man and forcibly saying it is UML's. They are presenting speakers and issues they prefer. Instigating in the House and asking to pelt stones on the streets. Taking Cabinet decision to tighten security arrangements. We are seeing this charade."
UML lawmaker Rawal spoke against tabling of the MCC Compact on Sunday even as the party was was continuing House obstruction. Rawal stated that the MCC Compact was being illegally tabled in the House bowing down to foreign threats.
Rimal stressed that Rawal's views do not represent the party's official position and one need not draw conclusion from his views that UML has double standards on the MCC. "We have said that the MCC Compact should be ratified by the House. Environment should be created for us to officially present our position. They conduct House meeting with non-lawmakers. The court does not take decision in our case. How can we put our position then?" he argued.
Pointing that some are currently saying that the MCC Compact should not be taken to the House and secretly implemented he added that UML is clear about that. "We believe that the MCC Compact should not be implemented if it is not good, and should be implemented after ratification by the House if it has to be implemented."
