A cabinet minister and high-ranking officials said that the prime minister asked Pandey to resign last week after the latter allegedly became nosey about the financial and administrative affairs at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and other ministries.
However, Om Sharma, prime minister’s press advisor, told myrepublica.com on Sunday that Pandey resigned recently citing reasons of health. [break]
“The prime minister has already approved his resignation,” he said.
A senior minister said he had lodged a complaint against Pandey after the latter tried to interfere with the work of his ministry.
“I had heard that the prime minister had received more complaints against him,” the minister said on condition of anonymity.
Government officials said that he showed "unnecessary interest" in the information technology (IT) project at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. "As the advisor of the prime minister, he was not supposed to show interest in a particular project and its financial aspect; he was supposed to give advice to the prime minister on science and technology policy," said a government official on condition of anonymity.
When asked about his resignation, Pandey said over phone from Bhairahawa that he did not want to talk to the press over his resignation. “There was a tacit agreement between the prime minister and me that my resignation will not be made public. How did you come to know?” he said.
Pandey refused to give details of his resignation, saying he would first talk to the prime minister and his press advisor over the information leak.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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