The ruling and opposition parties have started a blame game over Deputy Speaker Indira Rana's move to write a letter to the American Embassy in Kathmandu to allocate convenient visa interview dates for individuals without clear statuses.

While some ruling party lawmakers demanded a probe into the matter, opposition lawmakers including those from the Rastriya Swatantra Party said it was a non issue.

During the special time in the House of Representatives on Sunday, Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Hari Khatiwada demanded a committee to probe the correspondence by Rana.

"A letter requesting dates for US visas has been received. Can the Deputy Speaker still command Parliament?" he asked. "There is the Parliament Secretariat to facilitate the visa process if anyone of Parliament has to travel abroad. The Deputy Speaker has breached the norm by writing the letter herself."

He claimed Rana's move had brought shame not just to Parliament but the whole country. "The Deputy Speaker's Office cannot act as a consultancy to facilitate the visa process," he said.

On February 26, 2023 she had written to the consular general at the Embassy of the United States in Kathmandu to arrange interview dates for six people including herself. Dipendra Gautam, Sushma Lama, Rajesh Lama Tamang, Sujan Magar and Dhan Prasad Gurung were the other people named in the letter.

Rana wrote that as they were attending the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women that was being held in New York on March 6 to 17, 2023, she wanted the interview dates to be preponed. She is now being criticised for misusing her position to make undiplomatic requests.

Deputy Speaker, a constitutional position, is an ex-officio member of the Constitutional Council that recommends chiefs and members of constitutional bodies and the chief justice.

Opposition lawmakers, however, claimed that the issue was blown out of proportion because the ruling alliance is in a minority in the Constitutional Council.

Sumana Shrestha, a Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker, said Rana's character was being assassinated because the ruling alliance is in a minority in the Constitutional Council. The council has two members each from the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), one from the RSP and the next is the chief justice.

"Ask for [Rana's] support, we can give. But can you ruin the character of someone by calling them a human trafficker [because the ruling alliance is in a minority]?" she asked. "Character assisination is unacceptable. Let us check how everyone has used their letterheads in the past.”

She said there must be the criteria for using the letter. She accused the major parties of resorting to a media trial of the deputy Speaker.

Stating that the world knows how a lawmaker behaved in Parliament and on the streets demanding visa for an individual, she said the current criticism was nothing but a planned move against Rana.

Gyan Bahadur Shahi, a Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker, had led a mass protest against the US Embassy for denying visa to cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane.

Though there can be moral questions for writing the letter, Madhav Sapkota, a CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker, said, the way the letter was brought to the public domain now gives enough room to suspect the motive.

"We condemn the move if it is being done with an aim to bulldoze decisions from the Constitutional Council," he said. "As an opposition party, we will strongly oppose such moves."

Rana also claims that there have been coordinated attempts to attack her. Issuing a statement on Friday, she said, “The attempt to scandalise the letter I wrote out of compassion, after a year and a half, is nothing but a move orchestrated against me,” reads the letter.

“Those who know me well are aware of my nature. I may have many personal shortcomings, and there may be many who try to take advantage of that, but I have never engaged in unethical actions, nor will I ever do."

Experts in the field say the issue is not as light as Rana is trying to portray.

Som Bahadur Thapa, a former secretary at the Parliament Secretariat, said the deputy Speaker must be held accountable for her act.

It would be hasty to conclude that writing the letter was an act of human trafficking, Thapa told the Post. “But it is clearly a misuse of authority."

Rana must take responsibility for her wrongdoings, he said. Writing for herself was not a problem but including the names of those who are not related to Parliament in any way is problematic, Thapa argued.

An official at the secretariat claimed that Rana had tried to get the secretariat to write the letter. That didn't happen as then-general secretary Bharat Raj Gautam didn't agree to it, said the official. "She wrote the letter herself as the general secretary refused to involve the parliament secretariat in it."