Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane has met Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal and expressed his desire to return as home minister.
Lamichhane reached Baluwatar Sunday evening after he acquired Nepali citizenship and was reinstated as party chief earlier on the day.
Pointing that the case about his citizenship has ended and the investigation about passport will also finish in a few days Lamichhane requested PM Dahal to again appoint him as home minister after that, according to a Baluwatar source. Lamichhane argued that there should be no difficulty in his appointment as he would return to the House of Representatives (HoR) by winning the by-election in Chitwan-2.
PM Dahal did not give clear answer or any assurance and told Lamichhane that he would consult legal experts and the Election Commission about the issue.
CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli met Dahal at Baluwatar before that and there were reports that Oli put pressure on Dahal to reappoint Lamichhane as home minister. But the source claimed that Oli did not put such pressure or expressed his wish to see Lamichhane reappointed, and the two leaders discussed only the impending presidential election.
PM Dahal, reportedly, does not want to reinstate Lamichhane as home minister. CPN (Maoist Center) leaders have been arguing that the party should keep the Home Ministry with it as it did not get any powerful ministry in the power-sharing arrangement in the ruling coalition.
But Rastriya Swatantra Party, that now has 19 seats in the HoR after the Supreme Court ruled Lamichhane to be ineligible to become lawmaker, is saying that the party should get the Home Ministry even if Lamichhane is not reinstated. "This problem has befallen RSP, not other coalition parties. We have decided to authorize party president to present in the coalition our stand that the Home Ministry we got during the sharing of spoils should remain with us, and to hold dialogue to that regard," RSP Spokesperson and General Secretary Mukul Dhakal said after the central committee meeting on Sunday.
