KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is preparing to oust Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, who has been criticized for “using” business house employees to manipulate tax rates in the budget, a source has claimed.

Sharma, who admitted an unauthorized person to the Finance Ministry before bringing the fiscal budget, had directed the ministry official to delete the CCTV footage.

After the Consumer Interest Protection Forum used the right to information and demanded CCTV footage, the Finance Ministry on Sunday gave an irresponsible reply that it had been ‘deleted’ under Sharma’s direction.

Raghunath Ghimire, an employee of Chaudhary Group, and another person affiliated with Infinity Holdings were given entry to the Finance Ministry, who later manipulated the tax rate.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari, the main opposition party UML, and the Nepali Congress leaders have been pressuring Prime Minister Deuba to remove Finance Minister Sharma.

Meanwhile, the opposition party — UML — has been demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.