Kathmandu, November 15
Leaders and lawmakers from several parties are on, or heading for, foreign tours to Türkiye, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The trips have drawn questions from within the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). Its own leaders and lawmakers have publicly questioned their justification, cost and outcomes.
Central member and MP Tika Sangraula (Jwala) recalled that RSP had objected when leaders of other parties travelled abroad in groups.
“Where is it written that it was wrong when others did it yesterday, but is right when we do it today?” she wrote on social media. She said such trips are acceptable only if the host country pays and has asked for experts. “If we have flown at state expense, this way was wrong yesterday and is wrong today too,” she added.
MP Ganesh Karki, also a central member, said those travelling should publicly declare whether they are going at government expense. Referring to the 31st UN climate conference (COP31), he said attending is valuable for learning, but personal wishes should not be fulfilled at state cost.
MP Ashika Tamang asked how many times a lawmaker can travel abroad at public expense. She said even members of the same committee often do not know why their colleagues go abroad. She asked what the public gains from trips costing lakhs of rupees and demanded that their purpose and outcomes be made public. MP Raju Pandey also questioned the trips, saying sarcastically that going abroad seems to be the first priority once one reaches a position of responsibility.
MP Shri Ram Neupane said the Prime Minister’s Office secretariat and the forest and environment ministry secretariat had separately phoned to invite him to COP31. He said he would go only at his own expense and only if guaranteed a leading role in presenting Nepal’s case at an energy side event on November 10. Formal confirmation did not arrive in time, and he already had a public programme scheduled, so he decided not to go.
Meanwhile, a 20-member team of RSP MPs led by General Secretary Bipin Kumar Acharya left for China on Sunday at the invitation of the Communist Party of China. The 11-day visit covers Beijing, Hangzhou and Sichuan, among other places. The delegation met Prime Minister Balen Shah and party chair Rabi Lamichhane separately before departing.
Acharya said the Chinese side is covering all logistics, so the trip will cost Nepal’s treasury nothing. He urged that the questions not be seen as opposition, saying it is natural and necessary to ask about the purpose and cost of any trip.
COP31 is being held in Antalya, Türkiye. Five Nepali ministers (foreign, finance, agriculture and environment, education, and health) have taken part. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and Agriculture, Forest and Environment Minister Geeta Chaudhary were designated to lead the main programme. Khanal returned on Saturday, and Chaudhary is representing Nepal in the later sessions.
Five MPs, including Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee chair Ashok Kumar Chaudhary, flew to Türkiye on Saturday under a Speaker-level decision. Chaudhary said the trip will not burden the Federal Parliament Secretariat. RSP MPs Dr Ram Lama and Sagar Dhakal, who attended COP31, left for China right after returning to Kathmandu.
Elsewhere, MPs Ranju Darshana and Shobha Khanal are attending the Asian Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus in Malaysia. MP Dr Toshima Karki will attend the Second Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children and Protecting Public Health in Manila on November 18–19.
