Kathmandu: The Nepali Congress has been obstructing the Parliament demanding a parliamentary inquiry against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane for his alleged involvement in co-operative fraud.

The government has announced to present its policies and programmes for the next fiscal year (FY) on May 19. The Parliament Secretariat has already announced that President Ram Chandra Paudel will present the government’s policies and programmes at the joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly to be held at 3 pm on May 19.

According to the rules of the Parliament, the president on behalf of the government must present the government’s policies and programmes in the Parliament before announcing the budget. The policies and programmes shed light on the overall policies and priorities of the government for the coming year.

However, the Nepali Congress, which had also blocked the winter session of Parliament demanding an investigation against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Lamichhane, again blocked the budget session of the Parliament which was called for May 10. The Nepali Congress has stuck to its stance of not allowing the House to proceed until a parliamentary committee is formed to investigate Lamichhane. However, the government is not in favor of forming such a committee so far.

The Nepali Congress has not yet come up with a clear view on whether or not to allow the President to present the policies and programmes. The Congress leaders have said that a concrete decision on this matter can be taken by the meeting of the Congress parliamentary party called for Monday and that the policies and programmes cannot be presented in the current situation. The official meeting of NC held at the residence of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday also concluded that the government did not want to resume the parliament session.

After the meeting, NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa told media persons, "Not only the policies and programmes, but none of the government's activities can proceed until the parliamentary committee is formed. The conclusion of today's meeting is that we will not back down until a parliamentary inquiry committee is formed.”

Another Congress leader and party spokesperson Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that top leaders including the party president are discussing with the prime minister about removing the obstruction of the House.

After Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal formed a new government with support from the CPN UML and Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) by severing its ties with the Nepali Congress, the right-wing party has strongly opposed the current government. The Nepali Congress has focused its criticism on Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Lamichhane than Prime Minister Dahal as the home minister is allegedly involved in co-operative scam.

Government reports have revealed that Lamichhane, who is not a member of Suryadarshan Cooperative, took Rs 10 million from the cooperative. Similarly, police investigation shows that Lamichhane also received money from Supreme Savings and Loan Cooperative Society in Butwal.

Lamichhane has admitted that he is not a member of any of the two cooperatives. A person who is not a member of a cooperative cannot take loans. However, documents show that Lamichhane took loans controversially. Although documents show that the money has been paid back, the cooperatives claim the money has not been deposited yet.

Lamichhane maintained his innocence saying that someone else opened a fake account in his name and received the money. He also claimed that the police investigation into the scam has revealed that the money was withdrawn without filing the loan request form and those who took away the loan did not provide details of the three generations required to obtain loan. Lamichhane added that the documents also do not have his signature or finger prints.

He also reiterated in a statement issued on Friday that he is not a co-operative fraudster. Instead, he has announced that if he is found guilty of taking the loan, he is ready to give up politics.

In response to Lamichhane's statement, Congress General Secretary Thapa said that he had strong evidence to confirm the allegations against Lamichhane. Thapa added that if he could not prove Lamichhane guilty, he would retire from politics.

GB Rai had partnered with Lamichhane to operate Galaxy Four K Television under Gorkha Network Pvt Ltd, of which Lamichhane was the managing director. Now the television has been shut down. According to the government report, the operators of the television including Lamichhane had taken a loan of Rs 300 million from Pokhara's Suryadarshan Cooperative.

Meanwhile, leaders of the ruling party say that the NC turned against Lamichhane after he refused to support NC’s candidate for the post of prime minister.

UML President and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said at an event held in Kathmandu on Saturday that Lamichhane was labeled as a corrupt member of the cooperative because he rejected the offer made by the Nepali Congress.

Although the ruling parties have agreed to investigate the cooperative sector as a whole, they have not agreed to form a parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane. Oli claims that the Nepali Congress will demand the resignation of the Home Minister Lamichhane as soon as such an inquiry committee is formed. If Lamichhane resigns as the Minister of Home Affairs, the ruling coalition is likely to collapse and therefor the ruling parties are hesitant to form a parliamentary probe committee against Lamichhane.

Chief Whip of CPN (Maoist Centre) Hitraj Pandey said that they are ready to investigate the entire cooperative sector including the allegations against Lamichhane. The Congress, on the other hand, has not announced a clear opinion on the matter of having a parliamentary inquiry into the cooperative sector as a whole. As the Parliament remains blocked, the process of making various laws has been interrupted.

Former Speaker Damannath Dhungana says that parties should not hold Parliament hostage. Parliament is the highest platform of the people. Legislation should be focused on the issue of people's livelihood.

CPN (UML) chief whip Mahesh Bertaula expressed the hope that since discussions are being held at the top leadership level, the parliament will not be held hostage for long and a solution will be found.