Pokhara, November 12
The Gandaki province’s Minister for Youth and Sports Rajeev Gurung, more popularly known as Deepak Manange from his gangster background, has two tables inside his office. One is for him, and the second is for his personal assistant.
This is not the news. What is the news is that there is a nameplate on the second table that reads the second man Ronit Gurung is not the minister’s PA but the acting minister and his spokesperson.
The provincial law does not allow any minister to appoint his/her own acting minister and spokesperson on their own. But, Deepak Manange has unlawfully given the authority to his PA Gurung and he does everything that he does in Manange’s absence.’
“If there was a state minister, s/he could work as an acting minister, but how can a person outside the cabinet be an acting minister,” a ministry staffer says, “This is ludicrous, yet no one has been able to tell this to the minister.”
But, PA Gurung says, “The minister needs to walk around places very often, hence, he decided to designate me the acting authority,”
“I am also responsible to speak after studying the ministerial affairs and other issues as I am also the spokesperson.”
Meanwhile, Gurung claims he does not receive any perks and benefits from state coffers.
