MCC dispute enters parliament By Our Reporter At a time when the leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party have been sharply divided over the American assistance of ‘Millennium Challenge Corporation’ (MCC), the issue has now entered the House of Representatives through the government policy and programme and budget. When the issue was mentioned in the policy document and budget, a section of the ruling parties opposed it and the issue was also discussed in a meeting of the party secretariat of the NCP, in which the leaders agreed to move the issue of MCC forward only after the parliament endorses it. However, NCP leaders like Bhim Rawal said the issue should first be finalised the by the party. Rawal, Jhalanath Khanal and former Maoist leaders are against some of the provisions of the MCC. However, a few lawmakers in the budget discussion in the House of Representatives on Monday sought clarification from Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada on the issue. Surprisingly, Dr Khatiwada told the House of Representatives that the MCC was continuously in operation for the last three years. Defending the Budget for FY 2020/21 in the House of Representatives, Minister Khatiwada also said that MCC would be continued until and unless the House decided something against it. “It requires approval from the House for the implementation and we are waiting for that,” he said. Lawmaker Durga Paudel had asked Minister Khatiwada to clarify on the schedule 3 of the budget in the session relating to MCC. “What will happen if schedule 3 is removed from the budget?” she asked. She said that incorporating the MCC projects in the budget before its approval from the House was inappropriate. Similarly, lawmaker Ram Bahadur Bista asked whether the government would conduct a separate session for Rs 36.02 billion of MCC incorporated in the budget in the House or be endorsed along with the annual estimation. However, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Finance Minister Dr Khatiwada seemed prepared to endorse the MCC as the government had already included it in budget and policy document. And if it is tabled for voting, it will be endorsed in the support of main opposition Nepali Congress and others, as NC has been pressing the government to accept it as NC-led government had applied for the assistance.