Meetings of both Houses put off till Sunday

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 25:The meeting of the House of Representatives has been put off till Sunday after the Nepali Congress and other opposition parties obstructed the House session on Friday.

Lawmakers from the main opposition, the Nepali Congress, obstructed the meeting of the Lower House on Friday immediately after Speaker Devraj Ghimire announced that the zero-hour and special time were removed from the schedules of Friday.

The NC lawmakers, who were demanding time to speak in the House, argued with the Speaker for a while refuting the latter’s request to take their seats.  

The Speaker frequently requested the lawmakers to cooperate with taking the House proceedings ahead, but the opposition lawmakers did not heed him. 

He reminded the NC lawmakers that a parliamentary committee had been formed to address their demands and urged them to cooperate in running the House business. 

“It is our duty to conduct the House session abiding by the regulations. We are making efforts to run the session as per the House regulations,” the Speaker said.

When the NC lawmakers continued obstructing the House, the Speaker put off the session till 11 am on Sunday without entering the scheduled business today. 

The House was to discuss the policy document presented by President Ramchandra Paudel and endorse it.

The Nepali Congress has been obstructing the meetings of both the House of Representatives and National Assembly right from the day the budget session began on May 10 demanding a parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged involvement of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in cooperative frauds. 

Although the NC allowed President Ramchandra Paudel to present the policy and programme of the government on May 14 after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ assured  NC leaders of forming the committee, it obstructed all other meetings thereafter.  

Even Prime Minister Prachanda won the vote of confidence amidst obstruction on May 20. 

A parliamentary committee has also been formed as per the commitment made by the Prime Minister, but the ruling and opposition parties have been unable to finalise the terms of reference of the committee. 

NC has been demanding the inclusion of the name of DPM and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the ToR, but the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the CPN-UML  are against it. Lamichhane is the party president of the RSP.   

NC has warned of obstructing the House till the ToR of the committee is finalised. 

The government has to table the budget for the new fiscal year on May 28, and before that, the policy document has to be endorsed by the House. 

If the parties fail to finalise the ToR for the parliamentary committee in two days, NC is likely to obstruct the House, inviting problems in tabling the new budget on May 28.

 However, the party leaders have been exercising to end the deadlock by reaching a consensus and finalising the ToR of the committee. The PM called a meeting of the senior leaders of the ruling and opposition parties on Friday itself. However, the meeting could not reach any conclusion. 

Instead, the Nepali Congress sought explanations from the PM regarding Home Minister’s  My 19 statement in the parliament and the arrest of Kailsah Sirohiya.  After the meeting, NC leader said that the meeting concluded in a positive note.  The leaders included in the task force to prepare the ToR have been holding meetings almost every day.  They also held a meeting on Friday but failed to reach a conclusion.  

Meanwhile, the meeting of the National Assembly was also postponed without entering the business after the NC lawmakers obstructed it on Friday.

The next NA meeting is scheduled for 11:30 on Sunday.