The story of Min Bahadur Gurung, the owner of the Bhatbhateni store chain, offering property and declaring intentions to construct the ruling CPN-UML headquarters is questionable on several levels. Above all, it has once more revealed the cooperation of Nepali politicians, political parties, and business owners for their own gain.
Politicians and businesspeople working together, for example, to foster an environment that is conducive to investment and business, is not intrinsically bad. However, no initiative taken by the government or the nation’s main political parties should unfairly benefit any one group or individual and instead should serve the interests of society as a whole. However, what we observe is that vested interests always gain from the majority of corporate and political partnerships in Nepal.
Another concerning thing about the Oli-Gurung deal is that the prime minister openly accepted the huge donation—10 ropani and 14 ana (0.55 hectares) of land and an investment to build a highly sophisticated building—from a person who is facing multiple corruption charges and whose cases are sub judice in the court. This is tantamount to openly promoting corruption and bad governance. Oli’s action has been criticised even in the UML party. Some leaders including standing committee member Binda Pandey have publicly criticised the deal and have demanded that the party correct it.
They have admirably mustered courage to speak against the wrong of Oli, the party’s all-powerful chair, even when they know that he tends to take such criticism personally. If the past is any guide, such critics of Oli tend to be systematically sidelined in the party.
This is not a one-off act by the chief of a major political party. It is an open secret that major parties give election tickets to businesspersons in return for financial help of various kinds. There is one thing common between Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress, UML’s Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the CPN (Maoist Centre): all of them have over the years sought the help of controversial businessmen to prop up their parties or even their own factions within the parties.
Oli is yet to offer a convincing reason for why accepting the donation was right. The occupant of the highest office in the land cannot act with such abandon, with seemingly no sense of accountability towards the people, or even towards his own party cadres. Oli has always been known as someone who is headstrong and not afraid even to shield goons if it serves his interest. He hasn’t changed much. Meanwhile, the public’s delusion with the old political establishment continues to grow.
Source: Here
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