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By Our Reporter

The row between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah has further deepened with Mayor Shah sharpening his criticism against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The dispute between the two escalated after the government did not send a new chief administrative officer to Kathmandu Metropolitan City. It is said that the KMC has been unable to pay its employees and others for two months in absence of a chief administrative officer.

Mayor Shah often resorts to social sites to make harsh comments against leaders and ministers. On Monday, the Mayor criticised Prime Minister Oli for not sending the chief administration officer to KMC.

Shah has also accused the government of spreading false information about him. “If there is a system of granting a PhD on spreading false information, it should be given to the current government,” Shah wrote on Monday.

The Mayor has argued that the claims made by leaders from the ruling party CPN-UML—that no official wants to work at KMC and those who were deputed at Shah’s office couldn’t work there for long—were totally false.

Earlier, on February 28, he posted a status on Facebook stating that Prime Minister Oli was trying to make him unsuccessful.

While Mayor Shah slams the PM, CPN-UML General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel counters Shah. “The Kathmandu metropolis’ mayor has expressed his anger against the government for not sending the chief administration officer,” Pokhrel wrote on social media recently. “But necessary attention has not been given as to why the government officers are not ready to go there of late.”

The row between the KMC mayor and the government took a nasty turn after KMC initiated an investigation into chief administrative officer Saroj Guragain to take disciplinary action, prompting the latter to stay on leave for over two months.

The KMC on December 22 formed an investigation committee to probe the corruption charges against Guragain.

The KMC accused Guragain of bypassing the formal approval system and due process while endorsing the construction plan for Kathmandu Tower at the Old Bus Park area and recommended action from the authorities concerned.

The mayor formed the investigation committee over Guragain’s decision under the leadership of Shankar Prasad Pandey, a former secretary of the Nepal government.

Pandey, however, said he handed over the investigation process to the committee members as he had to attend to family matters.

With the widening difference between PM Oli and Mayor Shah, Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol elected from the CPN-UML on Saturday demanded that Mayor Shah should first make public the investigation report. This shows the widening difference between the KMC mayor and deputy mayor, which was rare in the past.