POKHARA, April 15: Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam has challenged his own party members to prove that the UML ministers in the present government were not performing. [break]
Gautam has been facing criticism from within his party for failing to maintain law and order and peace in the country.
“Those who are saying that no work has been done should prove that we are sleeping,” he said while talking to mediapersons in Pokhara on Wednesday.
Stating that his party did not join the government on anyone’s mercy or by buttering anybody, Gautam said, “We did not join the government for winning ministerial positions, but to formulate a new constitution on the basis of consensus.”
The Home Minister also warned the Maoists leaders not say whatever they want in public. “The Maoists who represent the current state power should refrain from criticizing their partners in the government. They do not have the right to be in the government and then criticize the coalition partners,” he said.
Gautam also clarified that the issue of change of UML ministers has not come up in his party as yet. “These are all rumors. UML has not raised this issue at all,” he said. Furthermore, he clarified that there was no question about UML quitting the government and requested all not to go by such hearsays.
He said the government was searching for the culprits involved in the murder of the UML cadre Prachanda Thaiba in Butwal. “How long can the criminals escape? One day the state will catch them,” Gautam said.
Stating that 80 per cent crime was under control, Gautam said, “Only 20 per cent crime is out of the state’s control as the culprits are protected by various political groups.”
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