By Our Reporter
The present government led by KP Sharma has been mired by one scandal after another in recent months.
When he had not yet sorted out the scandal relating to visit visa scandal involving the men of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak's secretariat, he was dragged into controversies for leaving a few members of his Spain trip in Europe. Many men who reached Spain with Prime Minister Oli to participate in the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development of the United Nations did not return home.
Although PM Oli was unaware of their participation in the conference as they reached there through NGOs, INGOs and the groups involved in human trafficking, Rastriya Swatantra Party first raised the issue in the House. When media reports revealed that many Nepalis who flew to Spain boarding the same plane on which PM was travelling did not return, the Home Ministry formed a probe to study the case.
When the issue of human trafficking arose, a video was made public in which the Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Raj Kumar Gupta was heard asking for bribes.
After the leakage of the controversial video, many had expected that PM Oli would ask him to resign or sack. But Minister Gupta, a UML leader, attended the Cabinet meeting on Monday evening.
The way Minister Gupta was protected by PM Oli and even NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba showed that good governance is impossible from the present NC-UML coalition government.
But PM Oli and the government itself faced backlash for not relieving Minister Gupta not only from the opposition parties but also from the ruling Nepali Congress.
While NC general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa on Monday urged PM Oil to immediately sack Minister Gupta, Shekhar Koirala in his facebook account wrote on Tuesday morning that it was shameful that a minister found involved in corruption was allowed to attend the Cabinet meeting and NC was compelled to shoulder the corrupt minister!
Even UML leaders dared to speak against Gupta, which finally prompted PM Oli to ask Minister Gupta to resign. After accepting Gupta's resignation, Oli appointed Bhagawati Neupane to the vacant post of the minister on Tuesday evening.
Together with Minister Gupta, another minister, Balaram Adhikari was also dragged into the scam.