KATHMANDU, Feb 16: The main opposition Nepali Congress has accused the present government of pushing the country toward lawlessness and authoritarianism.
Organizing a press meet at the party headquarters in Sanepa, Nepali Congress spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma on Sunday said that the government has failed to live up to the people's expectations in the past two years since it came to power.
Spokesperson Sharma said that the government missed good opportunity to steer the country toward stability and prosperity in this period.
Listing out the major failures of the Oli government since it came to power, he said that the government has been a total failure. The list includes a range of issue including corruption to inordinate delays in completion of mega infrastructure projects to attacks on press freedom and civic liberties.
During the press meet, Sharma said that the government has failed to demonstrate a result-oriented nationalism through meaningful diplomacy and high-level political effort despite unity across the political spectrum.
21 govt failures in 21 months: Nepali Congress
"As a constructive opposition, the Nepali Congress extended full support to the government on the Kalapani issue. But, the government failed to resolved the issue," the spokesperson said.
Sharma noted that the Melamchi Water Supply Project has been further delayed and there are uncertainties over the long-stalled projects like Nijgadh International Airport and Kaligandaki Hydropower Project.
The NC spokesperson said that the government failed to maintain good governance in the country. "The government has failed launch appropriate probe into big corruption scandals like wide-body scam," he observed.
NC has also questioned Oli government’s commitment to good governance and rule of law by lashing out at its reluctance to take on the medical mafia, or start probe into big corruption scandals like the wide-body scam and Lalita Niwas land scam.
Sharma also condemned the government's attacks on the civil liberties and press freedom through introduction of various draconian laws.
In a press release, the NC spokesperson said that the communist government has failed to deliver on its promises.
Sharma accused the ruling Nepal Communist Party of being intolerant attitude towards leaders and cadres of Nepali Congress.
"Therefore, our party's recent central committee meeting has decided to further intensify protest against the government's totalitarian and undemocratic moves," Sharma stated in the press release.
The NC's response comes a day after PM Oli presented a long list of government's achievements in the past two years.
During his address to the House of Representatives on the occasion of his completing two years in office, Oli complained that his government was being unfairly criticized by media and civil society because of ‘ideological prejudice’, in spite of its ‘remarkable progress’ in the past two years.