The main opposition Nepali Congress has reiterated that its demand for a parliamentary investigation into the involvement of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in cooperative funds scam is non-negotiable.

A meeting of the party’s senior leaders including present and past office bearers on Wednesday decided not to backtrack on its demand.

Lamichhane is accused of embezzling funds of credit cooperatives in Kaski, Chitwan, and Rupandehi districts.

Police investigations reports have revealed that millions of rupees were transferred from two cooperatives in Lamichhane’s name without following the required process. Lamichhane denies any wrongdoing.

“Our previous decision to call for a parliamentary committee to investigate Home Minister Lamichhane’s involvement in the cooperative funds embezzlement and study the crisis affecting hundreds of cooperatives across the country remains unchanged,” said the party’s vice president Dhanraj Gurung.

“Now it is entirely up to the government to decide whether it wants to proceed with the House session,” said Gurung. “The issue of cooperative funds and embezzlement is serious, and it’s not about duping a few individuals.”

The Congress meeting also concluded that Home Minister Lamichhane deliberately misused the Nepal Police and Attorney General’s Office to claim innocence.

On Tuesday, during the all-party meeting called by the Speaker, Lamichhane had shown a letter issued by the Office of the Attorney General that stated that no case of cooperative fraud against him has been registered anywhere in the country.

“In an attempt to prove his innocence, the home minister has exerted influence over both the police and the attorney general’s office,” an office bearer of Nepali Congress said. “We were aware of pressures on the police and local administrations to avoid investigating him, but now it is apparent that Lamichhane also misused the attorney general’s office.”

The back-to-back clean chit given by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepal Police chief Basant Bahadur Kunwar, and now the office of the attorney general show that we need deeper investigation against the home minister, the office bearer said.

“Such kind of preemptive steps are taken only by those who are afraid of being probed and arrested,” the leader said.

At the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Devraj Ghimire on Tuesday, some ruling parties including the CPN-UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party rejected the idea of a parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane. Two other ruling parties—CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (Unified Socialist)—instead suggested a panel with broad jurisdiction to look into overall problems of the cooperatives sector instead of solely targeting Lamichhane.

But the main opposition Nepali Congress, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, rejected the ruling parties’ suggestion.

The government has called a House session on Friday, but discord over forming the parliamentary committee to probe embezzlement of the cooperative fund has only deepened.

In the all-party meeting called by the Speaker, the ruling alliance had proposed a committee with a mandate to look into problems of the entire cooperative sector, unearth fraudulent activities, and identify those responsible. They had also proposed that the committee be empowered to recommend action against those involved in fraud. Although the Congress did not outright reject the proposal, it insisted on investigating Lamichhane.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the Congress leaders also discussed the letter sent by Home Minister Lamichhane to Speaker Ghimire where the home minister sought permission to speak in the House.

During the previous session of Parliament, the Congress had stopped the home minister from speaking, to press its demand for formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate him. Following this action, Lamichhane wrote to the Speaker to allow him to speak and give his clarification on the allegations.

“We have taken notice of the letter, but we haven’t decided whether to allow Lamichhane to speak,” said Gurung.

The Congress has called its parliamentary party meeting on Thursday that will decide whether to allow the home minister to speak in the House, another office bearer of the party told the Post.

“The tone and body language of senior party leaders on allowing the home minister to speak in Parliament are positive, but the party will not backtrack on its demand for a parliamentary committee,” the office-bearer said. “As soon as he concludes his statement, we will obstruct the House, and until the government decides to form the committee, we will not allow House proceedings to resume.”

The Congress office-bearer accused the home minister of attempting to tamper with or destroy police evidence against him.

Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak said Thursday’s parliamentary party meeting will make a decision on the party’s course of action within Parliament.

“The ruling parties are trying to ignore the demands of the opposition parties,” said Lekhak. “If the government refuses to take our demand seriously, we are also not going to compromise. It is the duty of the government to engage the opposition and take initiatives to run the House smoothly.”

The meeting of the sitting and former office bearers also discussed the political situation in Koshi and Gandaki provinces where the ruling parties are struggling to form governments.

“The steps taken while forming the government in Koshi province shows the ruling parties are headed in an unconstitutional direction,” said Gurung. “No one has the right to misinterpret the constitution. We are serious about what happened in Gandaki and we will go to court, he added.

In Gandaki, a total of 31 votes are needed in the 60-member provincial committee to establish a majority. But even when chief minister Khagaraj Adhikairi secured only 30 votes, provincial speaker Krishna Prasad Dhital announced that Adhikari won the trust vote, which the Congress has deemed unconstitutional.

Surendra Raj Pandey, former Gandaki chief minister from the Congress, and other provincial lawmakers also discussed knocking on the Supreme Court’s door on the issue during their interaction with party chief Sher Bahadur Deuba.