Biratnagar, August 23

Nepali Congress leader Dr Shekhar Koirala has accused the government of usurping the state power.

“The government has already brought civil servants, media, the human rights commission,  the judiciary and financial institutions under the sphere of its influence, and it is now trying to take control of the chiefs of security agencies, which is unfortunate,” said the NC leader, speaking at an interaction here today.

Koirala argued that impeaching the chief justice and the justices was a mistake of political parties. “It was perhaps one of our biggest mistakes to try to impeach the chief justice and the justices. How can we expect them to do their jobs fairly when we hang a sword over their head?” he asked.

“Did the prime minister call the meeting just to say that republicanism was under threat from the deposed king and Netra Bikram Chand-led group?” he questioned. “It’s a total joke. The government wouldn’t have to fear anyone if it had done good job.”

Koirala lamented rampant corruption and impunity, lack of accountability on part of government agencies and eroding trust of public on the judiciary. He said the trend of people coming out in the street spontaneously for various protest programmes lately hinted at waning public trust in the government.