MP Gautam clarifies remarks on citizens not returning from Spain

KATHMANDU: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Sobita Gautam has clarified that she did not claim individuals who accompanied Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to a recent program in Spain have not returned.

Speaking during Wednesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, MP Gautam addressed concerns raised after her previous remarks during Tuesday’s session, where she drew parliamentary attention to media reports suggesting that some individuals who went to Spain under the pretext of participating in the Prime Minister’s program had not come back.

She expressed dissatisfaction over demands to remove her remarks from the parliamentary record and criticized the government’s handling of the issue.

“The government has played a deceptive game by forming a weak investigation committee led by a junior official under its own ministry, despite the seriousness of the matter involving the country’s image and allegations of human trafficking,” she said.

Gautam further stated, “We have been continuously boycotting Parliament because our concerns have not been heard. I later learned that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat even issued a challenge regarding my statement, and some honorable members went as far as calling us ‘immature kids.’ Let me make it clear: I never said those who went with the Prime Minister didn’t return. Please listen carefully.”

She reiterated that while she did not claim that people directly accompanying the Prime Minister had failed to return, it is a fact that some Nepali citizens who went to Spain citing participation in the same event have not come back.