Day at a Glance: From Lamichhane commenting on Cooperative scam To Nagarik Unmukti joining government

27th March Wednesday: The major events of the day have been compiled in this segment ‘Day at a Glance!’

The major Headlines of the day include:

• Minister Lamichhane: Only my name is involved in cooperative fraud case
• NC requests Home Minister Lamichhane to stay outside of government, during investigation period
• CPN (Unified Socialist) to nominate its candidate for by-election
• PM Dahal: Peace process to conclude according to national understanding
• Finance Ministry’s second quarterly review shows average results
• Nagarik Unmukti Party decided to join government, in absence of Resham Chaudhary

1. Minister Lamichhane: Only my name is involved in cooperative fraud case

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has claimed that he was not involved in the cooperative fraud case. Addressing the questions raised by MPs at the meeting of the State Order and Good Governance Committee on Wednesday, Home Minister Lamichhane claimed only his name was involved in the case. ‘Nothing other than my name is involved in the cooperative fraud. Not a signature. Not a thumbprint. Even a simple KYC has not been filled. I have not even given an application. That case has been registered in the court but there is not my name. I am not the defendant. The plaintiff has not even mentioned my name in their statement,’ said Home Minister Lamichhane. Likewise, it was his commitment to always be ready for investigation in the case, as the complaint of the case of filed way before his party joined the government.

2. NC requests Home Minister Lamichhane to stay outside of government, during investigation period

Nepali Congress (NC) has demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane even in the meeting of the parliamentary committee. NC Member of Parliament (MP) Dilendra Prasad Badu, at the meeting of the state order and good governance committee on Wednesday, requested Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane to resign during the investigation period of the cooperative. MP Badu said that the Home Minister should resign for a fair investigation into the alleged involvement in the 10 million (1 crore) scam of the cooperative. He showed objection to not getting detailed information despite the investigation by the police over the complaints of the cooperative victim.

3. CPN (Unified Socialist) to nominate its candidate for by-election

CPN (Unified Socialist) has decided to nominate its candidate for the upcoming by-election, on the 15th of Baisakh, from Illam and Bajhang. CPN (Unified Socialist) decided to nominate Jit Bahadur Rai from Illam-2 and Dil Bahadur Singh from Bajhang (1). The Party came up with the conclusion to nominate its candidate after the parties of the ruling coalition decided to compete with their respective candidates. The Party already gave directions, to the related party committee, to recommend the names of the candidates. Similarly, the CPN (Maoist Centre) has recommended 4 names for the by-election from Illam Constituency-2. Nepali Congress decided to nominate Dambar Khatiwada from Illam-2.

4. PM Dahal: Peace process to conclude according to national understanding

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that the incumbent government was effortful to conclude the remaining works of the peace process by forging a national understanding. Meeting with the representatives of various organizations of the families of conflict victims on Wednesday at Singha Durbar, PM Dahal assured that the government was committed to complying with the court’s orders regarding the issues of investigation of the disappeared persons, truth, and reconciliation commission. PM Dahal admitted that the transitional justice-related works have not been completed despite the will of the government. According to him, some forces would not allow the remaining works of the peace process to be completed. The Head of the Government informed that the government had taken forward the bills to carry out the remaining works of the peace process.

5. Finance Ministry’s second quarterly review shows average results

The Finance Ministry has made average performance and achievement of the set goals until the second quarterly review period of the current fiscal year 2024/24. The Ministry on Tuesday assessed the progress until March 13 of the current financial year. In the review meeting, Finance Minister Barshaman Pun shared that the public finance management was under pressure. He directed the bodies concerned to resolve the problems related to the capital expenditure not increasing and to the revenue collection, said the Finance Minister’s Secretariat.

6. Nagarik Unmukti Party decided to join government, in absence of Resham Chaudhary

Nagarik Unmukti Party has decided to participate in the current ruling coalition. The majority of the members of the Central Committee Meeting, on Wednesday, decided to join the government. Party Chairperson Ranjita Shrestha called a central committee meeting and made the decision. There are 4 members of the Party in the House of Representatives (HoR). The Party decided in the absence of Party Patron Resham Chaudhary. Patron Chaudhary is not in favor of joining the government. But Chairperson Shrestha is in the process of joining the government.