KATHMNADU, Feb 2: Rabi Lamichhane, who submitted his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister after the Supreme Court's decision earlier last week, has not yet left the minister's residence in Pulchowk.
After the Supreme Court did not uphold his Nepali citizenship, Lamichhane submitted his resignation letter to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday. On the next day, he said that he had left the government residence. However, Lamichhane has been living in "D2Block" of the minister's quarter in Pulchowk.
The Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office has opened its unit office in the Minister's Residence to manage the Minister's Residence and provide facilities to the Ministers. In that office, the management office has assigned two employees for 24 hours. An employee working in the management office said, "The former home minister has not clarified why he has not left the minister's quarters. Therefore, we do not know that the minister has left the quarters.
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Deepak Bohara, Lamichhane's secretariat coordinator and a central member of Rastriya Swatantra Party, claimed that Lamichhane left the residence the day after he resigned as the home minister. He said, "But some of our few belongings are in the minister's quarters." Those things are yet to be taken.'' According to the guidelines on the minister's residence, when the minister leaves the residence, the relevant minister's family members must submit the declaration of leaving the residence to the administration office. We will understand that the minister's quarters are being used until there is an understanding in the office," said the employee of the management office.
According to the management office, Lamichhane moved to the minister's residence the day after he was appointed as the home minister. Another employee of the management office said, "There is no clear day specified in the directive that the quarter should be left the day after or the day after the minister resigns." But the matter of how many days to leave is a matter of ethics of the concerned person.' According to those employees, there are cases where some have left the minister's residence the day after being removed from the ministry, and there are also examples of some staying in the residence for 2-3 months even though they do not have a ministerial position.
After the change of minister, the management office provides new items for the new minister. The office staff of the management office replaces all the furniture such as carpets, curtains, sofas, etc. used by the ministers and members of the ministers. In this way, changing new furniture costs 0.5 million to 0.6 million for a residence. In the Dahal-led government, Lamichhane became the Home Minister along with the Deputy Prime Minister on December 26. As a minister, he stayed in the Ministry of Home Affairs for 33 days.
According to sources of Home Ministry, even after Lamichhane resigned from the post of minister, as a former Home Minister, he is hiring two security personnel. Lamichhane, when he was home minister removed security personnel used by former ministers out of procedure. In the procedures prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the provision of security personnel to special persons, there is a provision that the former minister can hire security personnel for two years while the former home minister is not in the ministerial position and for 10 years when the former minister is not in the ministerial position. This provision was not removed when Lamichhane was the Home Minister.
Meanwhile, the RSP leaders have said that their party should hold the Home Ministry. The leaders of RSP do not speak clearly about the government leaving the government without getting a home ministry. The stance that we should get the Ministry of Home Affairs remains. The Prime Minister is positive on this matter," said Bohara, "Now the discussion is going on. Therefore, the topic of leaving the government has not come up now,” he added.
According to RSP sources, there are two opinions within the RSP on whether to leave the government without getting a home ministry. DP Aryal, Tosima Karki, Shishir Khanal, who participated in the government from RSP, are of the stand that they should not leave the government even if they do not get the home ministry, while the MPs who did not participate in the government are on the line that they should leave the government if they do not get the home ministry. Lamichhane is lobbying from different levels to return home.
