KATHMANDU, Aug 21: Amidst criticism from various quarters including from within the party, the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party on Friday decided to ask Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala to furnish reasons behind her eleventh hour decision not to accompany the prime minister during his India trip. [break]
A Parliamentary Party (PP) meeting of the party held at Singh Durbar took the decision after several lawmakers including Gagan Thapa, Nara Hari Acharya, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Ramesh Lekhak and Jagadish Narasingh KC demanded clarifications from Koirala over her decision to strike her name off the prime minister´s delegation list.
NC parliamentary party spokesperson Nabindra Raj Joshi said the meeting decided to ask Koirala to appear in person at the NC PP meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday to furnish clarifications. The newly appointed NC PP secretary, Mahendra Dhwoj GC, wrote a letter to this effect to the foreign minister.
Sources said the NC PP meeting will decide whether to take action after hearing Koirala´s clarifications on Saturday.
Majority of NC lawmakers had suggested to PP leader Ram Chandra Poudel to take disciplinary action against Koirala right away, arguing that her decision has tarnished the image not only of the party but of the coalition government as a whole. They also alleged that Koirala had breached diplomatic norms by deciding not to accompany the prime minister on his visit to India.
Foreign Minister Koirala had struck her name off the prime minister´s delegation list saying that she was unwell with ´vomiting´ and ´diarrhea.´
However, NC sources said Foreign Minister Koirala took an eleventh hour decision Tuesday not to accompany Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to India over his refusal to appoint her deputy prime minister.
NC President Girija Prasad Koirala, who is her father, is learnt to have asked Prime Minister Nepal to appoint her deputy prime minister prior to his India visit.
Addressing the PP meeting, Nara Hari Acharya had expressed surprise over the party´s failure to seek clarifications from her even as her decision had defamed the party as a whole. “The newspapers that were supposed to be filled with stories about the prime minister´s India visit are instead full of criticisms of the Nepali Congress,” he said.
Acharya asked what would be the stance of the NC if the prime minister upon his arrival back in Nepal decides to take action against his cabinet colleague Koirala on disciplinary grounds.
NC lawmakers had also aired concern over the fate of the UML-led coalition government given the UML´s refusal to meet NC President Koirala´s demand that his daughter be given a deputy prime ministerial berth. The NC, as many senior leaders privately allege, is still run at the whim of party president Koirala.
Another lawmaker, Gagan Thapa, had urged the PP meeting to take action against Sujata Koirala before taking up other issues. He argued that such a decision by Koirala, apparently over the prime minister´s refusal to appoint her deputy prime minister, had lost the party thousands of supporters.
Govt will not fall: Sujata
Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala said Friday that all media reports relating to her decision to cancel her trip to India with the prime minister are pure “rumor”.
Stating that PM Madhav Kumar´s visit to India was “highly successful,” she claimed disappointment over not been able to go to India.
Koirala also claimed that the present government “will not collapse” and that the issue of the deputy prime minister was not raised by her, but by other party leaders. “The issue of the DPM has not been raised in the party at all,” Koirala said.
New faces in NC working committee
The NC parliamentary party appointed three members to the parliamentary working committee, giving the 18-member committee full shape. A meeting of the NC parliamentary party working committee held on Friday appointed Nabindra Raj Joshi as the spokesperson, Kalyani Rijal as treasurer and Mahendra Dhwoj GC as secretary of the committee.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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