KATHMANDU, AUGUST 3
Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala stressed the need to remove the Central Investigation Bureau and Department of Revenue Investigation from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and keep both the agencies under the ministries as in the past.
At an interaction programme organised by the Democratic Thought Society at Koirala's liaison office today, Koirala said as the NC had already decided to keep both the departmentsunder the jurisdiction of line ministries as practised earlier, the transfer should not be delayed anymore. He stressed that both the agencies should be put under the jurisdiction of the ministries so as not to obstruct the democratic process.
"The NC has already taken the decision to return both the agencies to the ministries. It was not implemented when party President Sher Bahadur Deuba was in the government leadership. It should not be delayed to translate the decision into action when the NC is in government now," he said.
Koirala said people had no trust in fair investigation into graft cases and action to be taken against the guilty. He said the Lalita land grab case was brought to the fore to relegate the fake Bhutanese refugee case and gold smuggling case to the back burner.
"There has been regular meeting among the top leaders of three major political parties. But surprisingly, people do not get information about the reasons behind the meeting of the top leaders. The country has continuously faced loss due to obstruction of Parliament. The top leadership is not serious in this regard.
The ownership of main political parties with regard to federalism has remained opaque," Koirala asserted.
Hinting at the ongoing pro-identity struggle in Koshi Province, Koirala called for adopting meticulous precautionary measures to avert possible repercussions of such unrest.
Saying that the struggle for identity in Koshi Province had been receiving financial support from different sources, he underlined the need to be sensitive to the impact of Koshi pro-identity struggle in Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini provinces as well. Koirala asked the Society to carry out study and research on such issues.
"The Society should also lay emphasis on running a campaign to avert malaise in education, end corruption and impunity, and address energy demands of the Nepali business community," he said.
Koirala also expressed concern about the efforts being made by other allies of the ruling coalition to weaken the Nepali Congress by forming socialist front.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 4, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
