National
Congress criticises government, NCP over Venezuela stand
The main opposition Nepali Congress has fired a broadside at the government and Nepal Communist Party’s stand on the unfolding political crisis in Venezuela.Sanjaya Lama
The main opposition Nepali Congress has fired a broadside at the government and Nepal Communist Party’s stand on the unfolding political crisis in Venezuela.
A meeting of the Parliamentary Party of Nepali Congress on Sunday said that Nepal’s relations with the United States have soured due to the statements of the government and the Nepal Communist Party over the political situation in Venezuela.
Issuing a statement after the meeting, Congress’s Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand said the government and Nepali Communist Party’s statements on Venezuela was immature and against the national interest.
“The Parliamentary Party meeting vehemently criticised the insensitive, immature and anti-national activities of the government and Nepal Communist Party,” the party said in the statement. “We should not forget that the United States has been helping Nepal in the development of physical and social infrastructure.”
Talking to reporters after the Parliamentary Party meeting, Khand said that Nepal should not jeopardise its relations with the United States as the latter has been helping Nepal in various sectors.
“It is a grave mistake to make such opinion against the United States which has been helping Nepal in the sector of health, education and transportation, among others,” he said.
The statement on the political crisis of Venezuela, which does not have remarkable relations with Nepal, was meaningless and immature, the statement read.
On January 27, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in a statement released on behalf of the ruling NCP had categorically denounced what it called the United States and its allies’ “intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with the intention of inciting violence by dividing the people and challenging democracy, sovereignty and peace.”
The US Embassy in Nepal expressed dissatisfaction over the statement of the Co-chairman of the Nepal Communist Party and sought the Nepal government’s official opinion.
On January 29, the government came up with its official position on the political crisis in Venezuela, saying that the internal problems of a country should be resolved within its constitutional parameters.
The US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry did not participate in a briefing of Prime Minister to the representatives of diplomatic community on Friday.