Kathmandu, October 24

Sixteen of the 21 speakers at the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee meeting today urged the party leadership to assess the grounds for the impeachment motion against Chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Lok Man Singh Karki brought by the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre and opt for one of the four alternatives.

There are four alternatives: supporting the motion, opposing the motion, getting Karki to resign and pleading to the Parliament to decide on the motion only after the Supreme Court’s verdict.

NC leaders said the party should choose the best alternative after assessing all the aspects, said NC CWC member Guru Raj Ghimire.

Most CWC members urged the leadership to decide only after Karki gave clarification at the Impeachment Recommendation Committee of the Parliament.

“There could be four motives behind the impeachment motion: to break the present coalition; disrupt ongoing efforts to amend the constitution by addressing the concerns of agitating parties; foil possible CIAA action against some UML leaders; and weaken the CIAA so as to get off the hook in corruption cases.

Therefore, the party should delve into the motives behind the motion,” Ghimire said.

CWC member Balkrishna Khand urged party leaders to seriously think about the NC’s absence in the Constitutional Council, the body responsible for recommending the new CIAA chief, if Karki is removed.

“Karki was appointed at the initiative of CPN-Maoist Centre and now CPN-UML and CPN-MC are working to remove him.As the NC does not have any member in the Constitutional Council at present, the party will have no role in appointing a new CIAA chief. So, the party should think seriously about this,” Khand told the meeting, according to sources.

The Constitutional Council headed by the prime minister comprises Chief Justice, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chairperson of the National Assembly and leader of opposition party, according to Article 284 of the constitution.

Minendra Rijal told the meeting that suspending the chief of a constitutional body and impeaching him/her simply to serve someone’s interest would create a wrong precedent.

“If someone, who is disliked by one-fourth of the lawmakers, is appointed the new chief justice, then one-fourth members of the Parliament could suspend him/her and disrupt the appointment process.

So, the Nepali Congress should think seriously whether supporting the motion will create a bad precedent and take a wise decision,” said Rijal.

CWC members including Bal Bahadur KC, Khand, Rijal, Umakanta Chaudhari, Bhishma Raj Angdambe, Ajaya Kumar Chaurasiya, Mahendra Yadav, Pushpa Bhusal, Ishwori Neupane, Parbata DC Chaudhari, Govinda Bhattarai, Guru Raj Ghimire, Bir Bahadur Balayar, Sarita Prasain, Bahadur Singh Lama Tamang and Laxmi Pariyar urged the party leadership to take a wise decision, while Surendra Raj Pande, Badri Pande, Chandra Bhandari and Dila Sangraula urged the party to pass the motion without calculating any benefit or loss to it.

The CWC meeting will resume tomorrow morning.