Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Rajkumar Gupta tendered his resignation on Tuesday following intense pressure over a leaked audio clip allegedly linking him to a Rs7.8 million bribery deal involving political appointments and transfer of a government official in Kaski district.

In a Facebook post, Gupta said he had fallen victim to technology misuse and submitted his resignation to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

“Sometimes, even poison one has never consumed can harm the person,” he wrote. Gupta called for a fair investigation and pledged to continue serving his party and the public with renewed commitment.

According to officials at the prime minister’s secretariat, the minister who reached the prime minister’s official residence at Baluwatar however couldn’t submit the resignation directly to the prime minister as he was in a meeting.

“The minister has submitted a letter here at the secretariat and just returned from here without meeting the prime minister as he is in the senate meeting of the Kathmandu University,” Ramsharan Bajagain, communication expert at the secretariat, told the Post.

Another official at the secretariat said that he might have quit the position as per the prime minister’s instruction given on Monday.

“Yesterday, the prime minister had asked him to tender resignation within 24 hours,” said an official at the secretariat requesting anonymity.

Gupta, a CPN-UML leader, had attended Monday’s Cabinet meeting despite growing calls for his dismissal. The leaked audio, in which he is allegedly heard negotiating a bribe for transferring a civil servant and arranging a political appointment in Kaski, triggered widespread political backlash. However, the controversy was not raised during the Cabinet meeting, and no action was taken at the time.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Oli had summoned Gupta and sought clarification about his involvement. According to a minister, Oli listened to Gupta’s explanation but took no immediate decision.

The scandal has intensified tensions within the ruling coalition. Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal Chair Upendra Yadav, whose party is weighing continued support to the government, met with Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Monday to discuss possible power-sharing arrangements. Yadav is reportedly demanding either the post of deputy prime minister or the leadership of the Madhesh provincial government.

Following Gupta’s resignation, attention now turns to whether Prime Minister Oli will carry out a Cabinet reshuffle, as coalition dynamics remain fluid.