The decision by Prime Minister Sushila Karki to appoint her chief personal secretary, Adarsha Kumar Shrestha, as chairman of the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) has drawn widespread criticism.
With the House of Representatives election already completed and a new government expected soon, the interim prime minister appointed Shrestha on Sunday to lead the conservation body.
The position had been vacant after former minister Ain Bahadur Shahi resigned as NTNC chairman.
Public figures including former education ministers Sumana Shrestha and Mahabir Pun, and Gen Z activists such as Rakshya Bam and Tanuja Pandey have criticized PM Karki’s decision.
Shrestha criticized the decision in a post on the social media platform X.
She wrote that actions labeled as "nepotism and favoritism" when done by others are framed as "honoring contribution" when one does it. She remarked that while similar moves by others are called "political sharing" or "setting," they are described as "distribution of responsibility" or "mutual relations" when one does it.
Shrestha further wrote that while everything others do is opposed, what one does is called “fine/constructive vigilance.”
She also questioned the prime minister regarding the non-disclosure of the inquiry commission’s report on the incidents that took place during the Gen Z movement.
"And the report hasn't been made public yet; where is the report? Whose decision is this really – the one making it or the one for whom it was made? What is the quid pro quo?" Sorry – what is in the mutual relations?” Shrestha wrote.
Former education minister Pun, who was recently elected as an independent candidate from Myagdi, also termed the appointment of the PM’s chief personal secretary as wrong. He remarked that this move had ruined the prime minister's reputation, and urged Shrestha to decline the post to prevent that.
"Please do not let the historic respect the prime minister has earned be ruined by such small greed. Old parties were destroyed by this kind of nepotism, sycophancy, and favoritism. If the new parties follow the same path, they too will eventually perish," Pun stated.
He said that the new government should be careful while making such appointments. He will always caution the government about it, he added.
Gen Z representative Rakshya Bam also protested the prime minister’s decision on social media, stating that the youth did not take bullets to their heads and chests just so the prime minister and ministers could distribute council, department, and committee seats as "farewell gifts" to their inner circle.
"Do you know why we did it? For the dream that this country could finally breathe the air of good governance, not for the prime minister and ministers to hand out chairs in councils, departments, and councils to their people as farewell gifts," she said.
She warned, "Beware, that chair is stained red. The streets haven't forgotten the blood, and a blood-stained chair will not give you any stature."
Similarly, Gen Z representative Tanuja Pandey called the decision a mockery of the martyrs' sacrifices. She remarked that it is ironic to see those who talk about rising above "cronyism" repeatedly engaging in it.
"Do not engage in disgusting politics. The game of power and access has brought everyone down to the streets; do not become the next character. History never forgives traitors who turn the people's hope, pain, and sacrifice into a game for self-interest," Pandey wrote.
Adarsha Kumar Shrestha was previously embroiled in controversy for the appointment of his wife, Sangeeta Shrestha, to the prime minister’s secretariat. PM Karki eventually removed Sangeeta following the outcry.
Recalling that incident, Pandey noted, "It wasn't long ago that the prime minister’s personal secretary Adarsha Shrestha tried to make his wife a personal secretary on a par with joint secretary, that too when there is talk of youth movements and ‘new political culture.’ But today, that same person becomes the prime minister’s personal secretary and is eventually recommended for an institution like the Nature Conservation Trust."
