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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has given clean chit to Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhhane in the cooperative issue.

Answering the queries of the lawmakers of opposition party regarding the appointment of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister despite allegations of misappropriation of cooperative funds at a meeting of the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister clarified, "Investigations thus far have not linked him to the cooperative's Board of Directors, account committee, or loan committee."

Furthermore, he has not been proven to be an employee of the cooperative or hold any institutional roles. Additionally, there are no ongoing legal proceedings against him, the PM said.

The Prime Minister informed the House that the documents showed a cooperative loan issued in Lamichhane's name has been repaid and the government has been briefed by the police that in Lamichhane's case, no further investigation is required.

Meanwhile, PM Dahal said that he will not compromise with anyone regarding the government's commitment to establishing and promoting good governance.

He further said that anyone found indulging in wrongdoings during an investigation will not be allowed to walk freely. 

"Nothing will prevent the government from taking action against any wrongdoings if proved during the investigation," he said.

The Prime Minister said that he leads the government with the resolution of promoting good governance and the government is investigating big scams of corruption, cases of gold smuggling and illegal grabbing of public land. "The government will scale up its moves against such illicit activities," he added.

The CPN (Maoist Center) held a discussion on the arrest of the party Vice-Chairman Krishna Bahadur Mahara in connection with the gold smuggling case.

The meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar today discussed the arrest of Vice-Chairman Mahara in the gold smuggling case, said Vice-Chairman and Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota. 

"The discussion is in progress. We are holding discussions on this matter from various perspectives. We will reach a conclusion soon," Spokesperson Sapkota said.

According to him, the meeting will also reach a conclusion soon on whether to suspend Mahara from the party's responsibilities. He said the party's views on this matter would be made public after holding a regular meeting.

Prime Minister and party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal informed the meeting about the report of the Investigation Commission on Control of Gold Smuggling, 2080BS.

Vice-Chairman Mahara was arrested from Kapilvastu and brought to Kathmandu on Monday.

The same day the Kathmandu District Court extended his remand by four days for further investigation.

The Nepal Students Union, the student wing of Nepali Congress, staged a demonstration demanding resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.

Saying that Lamichhane, who was embroiled in the co-operative fraud, was appointed as the Home Minister, the NSU students staged a demonstration demanding that he be removed from the post at the earliest.

The Congress has been protesting in the House and the sister organization on the streets against Lamichhane, who was accused of co-operative fraud.

The Common Minimum Program (CMP) prepared by the government for the coming fiscal year is being unveiled today.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is scheduled to unveil the CMP.

According to the PM Dahal's Private Secretariat, the CMP prepared by power sharing parties would be made public at 10 am from the office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. 

It is going to be made public today after top leaders carried out study of the CMP prepared by a task force comprising two members from the CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and CPN (Unified Socialist) each.