General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress Gagan Kumar Thapa has said that the parliament is the only place to debate on the clauses of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Nepal Compact Project.
Speaking with the journalists at Bharatpur Airport on Tuesday, he said that the parliament is the sovereign body to make changes to the project document. “We have opted the way of amendment. The parliament will make the explanations to the required amendments,” he said, adding that all the debatable clauses would be interpreted and explained, and that will be the part of the treaty. Leader Thapa urged all political parties to take part in the discussion on the MCC in the parliament from Thursday.
“We should not shy away from the agreement fearing that there would be deviations from the written clauses in the future. We can annul the agreement in 30 days if there were any threats to the country and people,” he said. He said that the leaders who were the part of the MCC agreement process in the past couldn’t go against it on the moral basis. About 12 years ago, the then Finance Minister Surendra Pandey – member of the Madhav Kumar Nepal led government – had proposed the USA to provide the grant support to Nepal while FM Bharat Mohan Adhikari of the Jhala Nath Khanal-led government had visited the USA to take the agreement forward.
During Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s premiership, his FM Krishna Bahadur Mahara had presented a proposal to form a dialogue team for the grant support. The CPN (MC) was a coalition partner in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government which signed the agreement for the MCC Nepal Compact.
KP Sharma Oli’s government had registered the proposal for the MCC at the parliament in August 2019 and the present government had just expedited the process, said Thapa.
“There is a moral and crucial question for Nepal, Khanal and Prachanda as well as Dr. Baburam Bhattarai why not to pass the agreement,” he said.
What excuses would they present before the parliament against the MCC agreement which is tabled at the House after a decision by the Cabinet of which they are the partners? Thapa questioned.
Source : TRN,
