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Kathmandu Friday February 02, 2001 Magh 20, 2057.
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Deuba camp declines Cabinet posts
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 1 – Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s bid to
reshuffle the cabinet to reconcile the inner party differences received a shock today
after Deuba camp refused to join the cabinet.
Talking to The Kathmandu Post, Chiranjivi Wagle, former minister and
influential leader of the camp said " We are not participating in the government to
protest Koirala’s failure in keeping his promises made in the past... and to protest
the irregularities surrounding the election of the general convention
representatives."
He also said that it was morally uncomfortable for the camp to join the
government unless the Lauda Air controversy was resolved.
The minority camp had earlier filed a no trust proposal against Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in the NC Parliamentary Party protesting against
government’s alleged involvement in the Lauda Air scam among others.
Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation, the state-owned national flag carrier, had
leased a jetliner from Australian Company violating the Parliamentary Account
Committee’s ruling.
The minority camp has claimed that at least 30 lawmakers from the camp have
said that they do not want to join the government under Koirala’s leadership. At
least 43 out of 113 NC lawmakers in the lower house of parliament support Deuba as the NC
parliamentary leader.
Prime Minister Koirala, who was expected to reshuffle his cabinet today, had
asked the Deuba camp to furnish the list of the lawmakers to be inducted into the cabinet
by 1 p.m. today. The camp furnished no such list. Instead, they said that they would not
join the government.
But the camp has said that they would not go against anyone from the camp,
who wishes to join the government on individual basis.
Though reshuffle of the government was one of the major demands of the rebel
camp led by former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the camp seems to have changed its
strategy. Insiders, however, say that the camp is unlikely to join hands with the
opposition parties in the parliament to pull down the 11-month old Koirala government.
Nonetheless it will be an embarrassing situation for Koirala since the
opposition parties are likely to demand Koirala’s resignation collectively in the
upcoming parliamentary session slated to begin on February 8. The parliamentary party
meeting of the main opposition, Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist
(CPN-UML), held Tuesday decided to demand Koirala’s resignation in the upcoming
parliamentary session. Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the third largest party in the House of
Representative, the lower house of parliament, has also publicly said that it favours
Prime Ministers ouster.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister and President of the ruling Nepali Congress Girija
Prasad Koirala has nominated former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Bahudev Risal to
the post of the party’s Central Working Committee member.
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