Bijay Damase

July 7: A controversy related to budget forced Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to quit from his post.

He announced his resignation during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Wednesday (July 6). Following his resignation, the President’s Office handed over the responsibility of the finance ministry to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

A Parliamentary Special Probe Committee has been formed to investigate the allegations labeled against Sharma. The Maoist leader said he resigned from the post to facilitate the probe committee. He has been accused of allowing entry of unauthorized person into the Ministry of Finance on May 28 -  the eve of budget announcement – allegedly with the intention of influencing the budget for the benefit of a certain group of businessmen.

He has also been accused of colluding with high-ranking officials of the ministry in deliberately deleting the CCTV footage that captured the unauthorized person visiting the ministry on May 28.

Instead of keeping the topics of budget secret, Sharma courted controversy by inviting outsiders to the ministry allegedly to influence the budget.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota informed that the probe committee was formed after massive backlash both in parliament and streets as well as media reports criticizing the outgoing minister’s irresponsible remark that the CCTV footage has been deleted. The probe committee has been mandated to complete the investigation within 10 days.

Sharma is also accused of ordering the central bank’s governor to unfreeze money brought into the country through illegal means and initiating action against the government for refusing to do so.

Past Probe Committees

Parliamentary probe committees were formed in the past to investigate into the alleged wrongdoings of Janardan Sharma, an influential leader of the CPN Maoist Centre. A parliamentary probe committee had investigated his alleged role in leaking the budget before its formal announcement. However, Sharma didn’t resign from his post back then.

In a similar case, probe committees were formed to investigate against the then finance ministers Bharat Mohan Adhikari and Bishnu Poudel after the media leaked the information of budget beforehand. However, both of them didn’t resign although the parliamentary committees had pointed their mistakes.

Sharma is not the only minister to step down after controversy. In fact, he is the second minister in the incumbent government to resign following a controversy. The then Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Gajendra Bahadur Hamal had resigned from his post on October 10, 2021 within 48 hours after being appointed a minister in the Deuba-led government. Hamal drew widespread criticism for being appointed a minister in the quote of suspended Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana.

Similarly, the then Communication Minister Gokul Baskota had resigned from his post around two and a half years ago after being dragged into a controversy for seeking bribe of Rs 700 million for the procurement of a printing machine.

Another minister Sher Bahadur Tamang had also resigned from the post of health minister after he was accused of misbehaving with female students pursuing their medical studies in Bangladesh.

Other ministers to step down after being dragged into controversy include Dilanath Giri, Prabhu Sah, Sharat Singh Bhandari, Hari Parajuli, Radha Gyawali, Matrika Prasad Yadav, Sarita Giri among others.