Miscellaneous
UML, RPP-N to vote against Upadhyay
Two opposition parties, which were coalition partners in the earlier government, have decided to vote in the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee against the nomination of Deep Kumar Upadhyay as Nepal’s ambassador to India, protesting against reappointment of the envoy recalled by the KP Oli-led government.Binod Ghimire
Two opposition parties, which were coalition partners in the earlier government, have decided to vote in the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee against the nomination of Deep Kumar Upadhyay as Nepal’s ambassador to India, protesting against reappointment of the envoy recalled by the KP Oli-led government.
Members from the CPN-UML and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal will vote against Upadhyay in a poll likely to take place within a week. The 14-member hearing committee has five members from the two parties.
Upadhyay, who was appointed by the Sushil Koirala-led government in April 2015, was recalled by the Oli government in May on the charge of conspiring against the government. Although sessions with Upadhyay and Leela Mani Paudyal, the ambassadorial nominee for China, were held on Wednesday, their nominations have yet to be endorsed.
Both the parties are, however, positive about Paudyal’s nomination.
“We are against his [Upadhyay’s] nomination,” Dil Nath Giri, chief whip of the RPP-Nepal.
Even if the opposition party lawmakers vote against Upadhyay, he will not be rejected as the ruling alliance holds a majority in the committee. The opposition has to muster a two-thirds majority to bar his appointment.
Three complaints were filed at the PHSC against Upadhyay and one against Paudyal. Dinesh Bhusal, Bishnu Samari and Surendra Bhattarai had emailed separate complaints, most of them against Upadhyay. The government on September 1 had recommended Upadhyay and Paudyal as Nepal’s ambassadors to India and China, respectively.
In his complaint, Bhusal claimed that Upadhyay played foul against the government and worked to tarnish the country’s image.
Samari claimed that Upadhyay took no initiative to pressure the Indian government for lifting the border blockade. Another complainant, Bhattarai charged that Upadhyay worked as a party cadre rather than as a diplomat. He also demanded probe into the property owned by the two candidates.
During the hearing, opposition lawmakers recalled Upadhyay’s “suspicious behaviour” in traveling, while in office, with Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae in Nepal’s Far West without informing the Foreign Ministry.