Madhesi parties, RPP-N say they were not consulted

Kathmandu, October 20

Madhesi parties and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal said they would form their views on the impeachment motion moved against chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority yesterday only after studying the motion.

Chair of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Upendra Yadav said his party was not consulted by CPN-UML and CPN-MC lawmakers about the motion against CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki, and therefore, he did not know the contents of the impeachment motion.

Yadav said his party would form its views on the motion only after perusing its contents. “Once we receive the motion, we will hold our party’s meeting and form our opinion,” Yadav told THT. Yadav said the UML, which was leading the government last year, did not do anything to control corruption, black-marketeering and crunch of essential goods after agitators hit the street.

“Their issues are different from ours. We want the constitution to be amended,” Yadav said, adding that the impeachment motion could be a conspiracy to derail the process of amending the constitution.

Senior leader of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Hridayesh Tripathi said his party would form its opinion only after holding a meeting. He, however, said his party would not accept the 11-member Impeachment Recommendation Committee as it lacked representation of Madhesis and Tharus.

Co-chair of Sadbhawana Party Laxman Lal Karna said his party was not consulted and that the SP would come up with a view only after seeing the impeachment proposal.

Karna said there were constitutional provisions for impeaching a constitutional post holder and his party would see if Karki violated that provision before forming its opinion on the motion.

“I heard from UML leader Pradip Gyawali today at a programme that his party had decided to move the impeachment motion because some people had gathered at Karki’s residence and prevented Supreme Court officials from serving a court summons.

If this is the case, then the Supreme Court and the home ministry should take action against those who created the obstruction,” Karna said and argued that it would be wrong to pin the blame on Karki for the obstruction at his house as he was not present there. “This cannot be a reason for impeaching Karki,” he added.

Karna said Gyawali also told the interaction that his party supported the motion because some university office bearers against whom the CIAA had filed graft cases were acquitted by the court. Even if that was the case, Karki could not be blamed for it. “It will be wrong to assume that all the verdicts on CIAA filed cases should go in favour of the anti-graft body,” he argued.

RPP-Nepal Spokesperson Mohan Shrestha said impeachment motion was a serious matter which had to be registered only after consultation with political parties. We have expressed our reservation as the motion was brought all of sudden without consultation. Shrestha also said that his party would form its stance on the motion only after perusing it.

Meanwhile, CPN-MC lawmaker Rupa Maharjan opposed her party’s move to move the impeachment motion. She wrote on twitter “A wrong play. Then it was (Rukumangud) Katawal. Now it is Lok Man.”

When contacted by this daily, Maharjan said: I have written on my social networking site. I do not want to say anything more on this.