KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has approved the resignation tendered by the newly-appointed Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, Gajendra Bahadur Hamal.

Hamal who had taken an oath of office and secrecy on Friday resigned from the post this morning.

PM Deuba had urged Hamal to resign from the post after questions were raised regarding his appointment and the latter resigned accepting the request, Prime Minister’s parliamentary party private secretary Keshav Raj Joshi said.

Joshi said Hamal put in his papers after questions were raised about his appointment by lawyers and in news in different media.

Hamal has stated in his resignation letter that he has worked remaining active in various posts of the Nepali Congress for long and also worked as the party’s Banke district president, and the Prime Minister had accordingly appointed him to the post of the minister on evaluation of this background.

He stated in the resignation letter that the news disseminated by various media and the lawyers had linked his appointment to an unrelated topic in an unjustified manner and he felt that such news have undervalued his long struggle for democracy, the rule of law, and the principle of separation of power among the State agencies. Minister Hamal said he resigned from the post as questions were raised over the topic of his appointment and so he thought that it would not be appropriate to remain in the ministerial post amidst such doubts as he is a person who struggled for the system rather than for the post.

Hamal is active in the Nepali Congress politics for a long time.. He has worked in the party remaining in different posts since 1970.