"I have not even entered the ministry in last three years, not to talk of submitting a project proposal at the ministry," said Ramji Dahal, refuting the allegation published in Republica on Monday. [break]
Talking to Republica, Mahato´s personal secretary Upendra Mahato had claimed that the news about the minister distributing cash to journalists along with greeting cards came out because the minister had rejected a project proposal from Ramji Dahal a few days ago.
Saying that he does not know Minister Mahato personally, Ramji Dahal said, "I do not have any NGO and do not run any project. I am doing journalism only."
Similarly, Deepak Dahal, who reported the cash dole-outs by Mahato in Nagarik on Sunday, also refuted the allegation. "To distribute cash to a professional journalist is in itself a grand design on the part of the minister. And, it is ridiculous to say that there was no money in the envelop the minister handed to journalists or to try to link me with Ramji Dahal, who is my elder brother, for publishing the story," Dipak said in a statement.
Dipak was one of several journalists called by the personal assistants of Minister Mahato at his residence for a meeting. The scribes were given greeting cards along with Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 in cash put inside the envelope. Dahal had returned the cash immediately after he discovered Rs 5,000 in the envelope, which was supposed to contain a greeting card. He had then reported the matter in his newspaper Nagarik.
"I have never asked the minister or his close aides for favor. Nor have I asked for any favour for my brother," Dipak further said. "I have never called the minister or his personal secretary though I had called the minister´s communication advisor Nimesh Karna a few days ago for his quote on the transfer of a director general of Department of Health.
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