Kathmandu: The ruling and opposition parties on late Monday evening reached a ‘consensus’ to form a house panel to investigate allegations against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.
Top leaders from ruling and opposition parties reach consensus, as leaders claim, a day before Finance Minister Barshaman Pun is scheduled to deliver a budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year.
The house panel will comprise lawmakers from five parties, including two each from Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, and one each from Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and CPN (Maoist).
According to leaders, the terms of reference of the panel will not include the name of DPM Lamichhane, rather the investigation will be focused on the entire issues of Suryadarshan, Supreme cooperatives, and funds embezzled by Gorkha Media.
After attending a meeting between major political parties, leaders said the House of Representatives will run smoothly from tomorrow, May 28.
According to Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Padam Giri, a high-level parliamentary committee will be formed to investigate allegations against DPM Lamichhane.
“For the same, a meeting of the task force formed to finalize the terms of reference (ToR) will officially agree on the agendas discussed in today’s meeting,” he told the press.
Minister Giri further said the parliamentary proceedings will run smoothly from tomorrow.
Likewise, Ramesh Lekhak, whip of Nepali Congress, said the task force will finalize all the issues tomorrow.
The Nepali Congress, the largest party in the lower house—the House of Representatives—has been obstructing the house proceedings demanding Lamichhane be probed in a cooperative scam. Lamichhane, also the chair of Rastriya Swatantra Party, has been accused of embezzling a huge amount of cooperative funds in Chitwan, Kathmandu, Butwal and Pokhara.
Comment