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Kathmandu,Friday February 18, 2000 Fagun 06, 2056.
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Government’s fate to be decided on Feb 21
By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, Feb 17 - The
parliamentary party of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) will decide next week whether
Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai will continue in his office, party official
announced today.
The NC parliamentary party
secretary Benupraj Prasai said the time and date of the meeting has been set as 8 a.m. on
Monday at the parliamentary party office at Singha Durbar.
Though the early date has made
the rebels happy, sources in the party say that it has irked the prime minister. He wanted
some time before the meeting to prepare, Prasai, however fixed the date without consulting
him.
Prime Minister Bhattarai during
the four-hour-long cabinet meeting today told the members that he was being kicked out in
humiliating manner.
He warned that if he is ousted
and party President Girija Prasad Koirala tried to form a government, he would need his
support to do so.
Sources close to Bhattarai said
the ministers were divided between the two sides. While the Koirala side insisted on
peaceful agreement between the two leaders, the Bhattarai side wanted the government to
continue.
The ministers siding with the
rebels and Koirala are expected to resign tomorrow.
Former Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba, on a trip abroad, has decided to cut short his trip and fly home tomorrow
due to the developments in the party.
Rebelling NC lawmakers numbering
58 had filed a petition at the NC parliamentary party office on Wednesday seeking Prime
Minister Bhattarai’s removal from office.
This group of rebelling NC
lawmakers expressed "no confidence" on the parliamentary party leader who is
also automatically elected the prime minister, over his poor performance as the leader of
the country.
NC has 137 members in the two
Houses of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.
The rebels are accusing the
prime minister of failing to show any leadership qualities and turing out to be a weak
leader leading a government that has not made any progress.
They are not sure who they will
choose as the next parliamentary party leader but are confident that the choice will be
based on consensus and not just agreeable to one side or the other.
Both Bhattarai and Koirala had
reached an agreement nearly two months back in which Bhattarai had agreed to step down
immediately after the winter session of parliament citing health reasons to defuse the
situation that developed with NC lawmakers rebelling against him and beginning a signature
campaign.
Since Bhattarai was appointed
prime minster in May last year after NC won the general elections, the gap between the two
leaders had been widening with the party blaming the government of going against the
party’s directives.
Both NC members and the
opposition have voiced concern over the attitude and performance of the Bhattarai
government. His ministers have been accused of indulging in corruption and unethical
behaviour.
Minister for Housing and
Physical Planning Bal Bahadur K.C. had broken into the house of a married woman, had
physically abused her and had threatened her even as Minister for Youth and Sports Sharat
Singh Bhandari had been accused of pocketing hefty commissions while awarding contracts
during the South Asian Games held last year. Both men were spared by Bhattarai despite
protest from both inside the party and outside.
Other members in the cabinet
have been accused of indulging in corruption while the government as a whole has also been
accused of failing to control the Maoist insurgents who have targeted NC workers and
supporters in the bloody campaign for a republican state.
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