Nepali Congress (NC) general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma and joint general secretary Bhishma Raj Angdembe met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday morning.
The three leaders discussed chiefly two issues – fake Bhutanese refugees scam and government formation in Koshi Province – during the meeting with PM Dahal at Baluwatar.
A meeting of past and present NC office-bearers held at NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s residence at Dhumbarahi on Thursday had also discussed the issue of forming a government in Koshi Province.
Although the ruling coalition parties have already formed new governments in other provinces, Koshi Province still has a government headed by CPN-UML.
Parties in the ruling coalition have been making internal preparations for government formation in Koshi. It had been agreed that NC would take the initiative for it.
Thapa, Sharma and Angdembe met with PM Dahal on Friday as they had been entrusted with discussing the matter with him as per the agreement.
They also talked about the fake Bhutanese refugees scam during the meeting with PM Dahal. Police have already arrested 12 people including NC central member and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand in connection with the scam and investigations are underway.
NC leaders are divided over whether Khand should be suspended from the party immediately or not.
According to a Baluwatar source, the NC leaders urged PM Dahal during the meeting to stand firm and conclude the investigations in a fair manner. In reply, PM Dahal expressed commitment to bring the case to a conclusion.
“Your support and cooperation have given me encouragement,” the Baluwatar source quoted PM Dahal as saying. “The views you have put forward in Parliament and the statements of parties’ meetings have also helped me move ahead to conclude this case.”
PM Dahal said that he was also ready to open other files on corruption if he received support and cooperation from NC leaders. “I will open other such files too if your cooperation continues,” the source quoted PM Dahal as saying at the meeting.
The NC leaders and PM Dahal also agreed to hold further discussion on the issue of government formation in Koshi province.
