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Kathmandu,Saturday January 29, 2000 Magh 15th, 2056.
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Finance
Minister resigns Up against Dr Rawal as NRB Governor; resignation not
accepted
-By
Ameet Dhakal
KATHMANDU,
Jan 28 - Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya has tendered his resignation
amid ensuing differences with Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
and his cabinet colleagues, over the appointment of Nepal Rastra Bank
governor.
According
to a reliable source at the Prime Minister’s Office, Minister
Acharya submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister this morning
after Premier Bhattarai disclosed his final decision to appoint Dr
Tilak Rawal as the governor.
The
resignation is, however, yet to be accepted by the Prime Minister. The
source also said the Premier is trying to resolve the difference and
retain Acharya in the cabinet to avert what could lead into a fatal
setback to his already vulnerable government.
After
submitting his resignation, Acharya briefly went to his office and
said good-bye to senior bureaucrats. Minister Acharya’s resignation
followed a heated debate in the cabinet meeting Thursday. During
Thursday’s meeting, over a dozen of ministers and the Prime Minister
argued in favor of appointing Dr Rawal to the coveted post of the
governor, which Minister Acharya vehemently opposed.
The
cabinet at the end left the issue to be sorted out mutually by the
Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. Though the Premier and the
minister agreed to resolve the difference Thursday evening, the former
did not meet Acharya and informed his “final decision” Friday
morning.
Minister
Acharya was favoring the appointment of a more professional and less
controversial figure into the post. Acharya is learnt to have proposed
the name of Finance Secretary Ram Binod Bhattarai to the post.
During
the cabinet meeting, Acharya opposed Dr Rawal’s appointment arguing
that he was “too” political a figure and intellectually below the
par to lead the independent and professional institution like NRB.
However, Acharya is learnt to have suggested the Premier to appoint Dr
Rawal either as the National Planning Commission member or as an
ambassador.
A
finance ministry source says Acharya’s resistance to Dr Rawal’s
appointment is mainly based on the latter’s role as the executive
chairman of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) during his last tenure. During
his last stint at RBB, Dr Rawal had claimed to have earned a huge
profit to the only state-owned bank and saved it from virtual
collapse.
However,
an independent study submitted to the finance ministry some months’
back has pointed out that RBB’s financial position continued to
deteriorate during his tenure.
Amidst
rising concerns from the donor community regarding the actual
financial position of the bank, NRB has asked KPMG, an international
accountancy firm, to assess independently the financial status of the
bank. The firm is expected to submit its report within a few months.
During
the Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Minister Acharya is also learnt to
have argued that Dr Rawal would be “morally” a wrong person to
accept the KPMG report as the governor.
Though
the Prime Minister is trying to settle the differences with the
Finance Minister, a source close to Acharya said he is unlikely to
withdraw his resignation unless the Prime Minister changed his
decision.
Given
the delicate balance of the Bhattarai Government and Acharya’s
strong defence of Bhattarai as the prime minister during Nepali
Congress’s last Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Bhattarai
is unlikely to accept his resignation.
Acharya,
a close aid of Girija Prasad Koirala, President of Nepali Congress,
stunned political observers and even party insiders by opposing
Koirala’s demand that Bhattarai step down immediately as the Prime
Minister during the last CWC meeting of the NC.
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