KATHMANDU: During a meeting of top leaders of the three major parties held at Singha Durbar, the main opposition party, CPN (Maoist Centre), reiterated its demand for the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak over the ongoing visit visa controversy.
Maoist MP Hit Raj Pandey, who participated in the discussion held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, said his party insisted that the Home Minister must step down to allow for an impartial investigation into the issue.
Parliament sessions have been repeatedly disrupted by the Maoist Centre and other opposition lawmakers, demanding Lekhak’s resignation.
“The issues we raised remain unchanged. We’ve emphasized the need to prioritize good governance. The same points we raised in Parliament are what we placed in the meeting,” Pandey said after the meeting. “Considering the irregularities in the visit visa case, we said the Home Minister must clear the way for a proper investigation.”
Pandey also stated that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli urged parties to resume Parliament and move forward.
“The Prime Minister said the focus should now be on reopening Parliament rather than demanding resignations. From our side, we highlighted that governance is the key issue,” Pandey added.
According to him, the Prime Minister and other ruling party leaders argued that since the controversy involves government employees, the Home Minister does not need to resign.
Despite the mounting pressure, Home Minister Lekhak attended the very meeting where his role was under scrutiny. In a rather unusual development, Lekhak was present at the top leaders’ discussion as a representative from the Nepali Congress, even though the meeting was partly focused on deliberating his own position.
The meeting, convened by Prime Minister Oli with Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda,’ aimed to resolve the ongoing parliamentary deadlock and move ahead with budget-related discussions. Lekhak had previously attended similar top-level meetings as well.
Photos shared by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat show Lekhak alongside senior Congress leaders, including Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka and former General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
Notably absent, however, were Congress General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, both of whom have publicly said Lekhak should step down to resolve the crisis.
Before attending the meeting, Maoist Chair Prachanda had convened a meeting of the party’s parliamentary group at Singha Durbar, where it was decided that the obstruction in Parliament would continue until the Home Minister resigns. Maoist MP Madhav Sapkota informed the media of this decision.
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