Ramhari Khatiwada resigns as House committee chief on ‘cooling off’ issue

Kathmandu; Ramhari Khatiwada, Chairman of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of parliament, today announced his resignation from the post owning moral responsibility for manipulation in the Committee report on ‘cooling off’ period controversy.

Khatiwada, a  Nepali congress Parliamentarian, made the announcement almost a week after the Parliamentary Probe team held him ‘morally’ responsible for the tampering in committee report. He, however, pleaded innocence, saying he is being affected by the ‘poison I did not consume’.

Known for his controversial statements at times like–‘Nepali Congress is Maoist centre, and Maoist centre is Nepali Congress– during the
last election, when two parties contested the election in Okhaldhunga as allies, and taking pride in belonging to the Nepali Congress that
threw bombs targeting the kings. Khatiwada today claimed that he is suffering today for being the ‘disciple’ of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, known for his honesty and principled position in politics.

Bhattarai, one of the founding members of the Nepali Congress, had dissociated from the Party in 2006 after it decided to go for Secular
Federal republic agenda which he called ‘imported’, but none including Khatiwada sided with him.

While the House committee report suggested there should be a two year cooling period for senior bureaucrats before taking another
employment, a manipulation afterward had one provision inserted favouring a waver in some special cases.