Politics
Dahal to discuss controversy surrounding Sharma with Deuba
Calls have grown for Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to quit after a series of controversies.Post Report
The meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) former Standing Committee has decided that the party chair should talk to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Speaker Agni Sapkota about the ongoing controversy surrounding Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.
“We have decided to hold talks with concerned parties—including the prime minister and the speaker—before taking any decision,” said Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, a former Standing Committee member of the Maoist Centre. “We don’t know what the prime minister’s position is on the issue.”
Sharma, who has been embroiled in a series of controversies, is accused of inviting two unauthorised persons to tweak taxes just a day before he presented the budget in Parliament.
The main opposition has demanded a parliamentary probe.
In response to the demand of the CCTV footage of the night when Sharma allegedly invited two outsiders to fix tax rates, the Finance Ministry said that it got erased because the record of only 13 days remains in the storage. The response raised multiple questions and calls for his resignation have grown louder. Civil society members have demanded Sharma’s resignation and fair probe into the incident.
Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa said on Monday that either Sharma should resign or Prime Minister Deuba should sack him.
The Maoist Centre, however, has so far maintained silence.
Leaders attending Tuesday’s meeting at party chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s residence in Khumaltar said that the issue regarding Sharma had been raised but no serious discussion took place on the matter.
“I think the issue of the finance minister will be sorted out within a day or two,” said Chakrapani Khanal, another former Standing Committee member of the Maoist Centre. “What if the prime minister wants him to remain [in the government]?”