As the legislature-parliament is head to discuss and endorse the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant, the debate on the issue is going to be over soon. On Tuesday, ruling Nepali Congress (NC) made public its position on the US $500 million aid meant for building transmission lines and improving road infrastructure. Speaking at the party’s Central Work Execution Committee, Prime Minister and NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the parliament would approve MCC Nepal Compact as per the consensus reached with all political parties. The NC that has been calling for the endorsement of the grant has sought consensus among the parties represented in the House of Representatives. As the MCC grant became a national issue, PM Deuba has rightly said that it would be approved based on the consent of the parties. He also expects the support from the ruling allies – CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-Unified Socialist in endorsing the compact. These parties have said that they want to amend some provisions of the compact before its endorsement.

NC has taken a consistent position on the MCC since Nepal and the USA signed an agreement on it in 2017. Defending the grant, the party is of the view that it is crucial to expand the transmission lines which is the critical infrastructure essential to develop hydropower sector and enhance its commercial prospect through the export of electricity. However, the main opposition CPN-UML has changed its tone and has been ambivalent on it. It is an irony that the largest party in the parliament has not yet come up with a clear stance on the MCC. The then KP Sharma Oli government had registered the MCC proposal at the Parliament Secretariat on July 15, 2019 after endorsing it from the Cabinet.

PM Deuba is confident that UML would eventually join to approve the MCC compact despite the fact that some UML leaders have been airing contradictory views on it. The UML should demonstrate political morality by sticking to its earlier stance on the MCC. According to the news report of this daily, the NC meeting has decided to put forward the approval process immediately after the MCC proposal is tabled in the parliament. Similarly, NC Parliamentary Party meeting called for early approval of the MCC grant, citing that it is in favour of national interest and contribute to the country's economic development. Former Finance Minister and NC leader Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat has made it clear that the MCC is not related to any military strategy and it has been wrongly interpreted as anti-national.

Dr. Mahat has stressed that it is necessary to clear the misconception being spread against the MCC project. As it is purely a development project, it is wrong to link it to Indo-Pacific strategy. The delay in the ratification of the project from the parliament will send a negative message in the world and affect development aid coming to Nepal. The government is making effort to pass the grant from the Lower House within the extended deadline of February 28. The political stakeholders should bury all the differences and build broader understanding to endorse it from the parliament at the earliest.