Chief Whip of Nepali Congress Ramesh Lekhak said that the meeting of ruling parties and the main opposition called by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday ended on a positive note.
Lekhak said that the ruling and opposition parties discussed formation of a parliamentary probe committee on cooperative fraud during the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office at Baluwatar on Friday afternoon. He added that the discussion was positive.
“Friends have been working on what kind of parliamentary probe committee should be formed. There was discussion on that. The discussion has been positive,” he said.
Lekhak said that Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has been linked to embezzlement of funds from various cooperatives and the issue about his alleged involvement in cooperative fraud should be addressed.
Regarding the issue of whether Lamichhane should be named in the terms of reference of the parliamentary probe committee or not, Lekhak said that they will discuss and decide how it should be written.
He said that NC also drew PM Dahal’s attention to the arrest of Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya during the meeting.
PM Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Chief Whip Mahesh Bartaula, NC Vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka and Chief Whip Lekhak, NC leader in the National Assembly Krishna Prasad Sitaula, and CPN (Maoist Center) Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey took part in the meeting.
The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party did not attend the meeting.
Pointing at Home Minister Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in embezzlement of funds from various cooperatives including Supreme and Suryadarshan, NC has been demanding that the parliamentary probe committee’s jurisdiction be defined by naming Home Minister Lamichhane in the committee’s terms of reference.
But the ruling coalition has maintained that an individual should not be ruled guilty before forming the committee.
A meeting of the task force formed to prepare the terms of reference of the parliamentary probe committee held on Friday morning ended inconclusively as the ruling parties and the main opposition continued to be at loggerheads over the issue.
The House of Representatives meeting on Friday was also adjourned following obstruction by NC. The next meeting has been called for 11 AM Sunday.
According to the Constitution, the government is required to bring the budget for the new fiscal year by May 28 but its policies and programs have yet to be passed.
